2023-05-13 14:01:00
As far as I can remember, Bruno Le Maire has always hesitated between writing and politics. He will end up marrying the two. After all, he is not the prime minister-writer. Before him, French political life made room for famous authors from Georges Clemenceau to Edouard Herriot, from General de Gaulle to François Mitterrand, from Maurice Druon to Françoise Giroud. There is hardly a country in the world that cultivates this political and cultural singularity. A chance that pulls us up. Obviously, the timing of the publication of the last essay (the thirteenth since 2004) by the Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty comes at the worst possible time as France’s financial rating has just been downgraded. …
The controversy that surrounded the release of “American Fugue” (Editions Gallimard) is revealing of the time. In his interview with the Tribune, the number two in the government displays his serenity despite the mockery and attacks aimed at him on social networks. Reassured by the literary critics who salute a “remarkable” book, he knows that on arrival this “American fugue” sculpts a little more an original trajectory and humanizes an image that is a bit aristocratic and professorial. He is worried, on the other hand, about what this controversy hides: a ” mechanical which, he says, does not serve democracy, freedom of expression and French culture.
For twenty years that he has been walking the corridors of power, Bruno Le Maire has successfully navigated between Chiraquie, Sarkozie and Macronie. April 2007: the young chief of staff to the Prime Minister, Dominique de Villepin, is at a crossroads. His mentor lost the battle against Nicolas Sarkozy who is about to enter the Élysée. The chiraquien has just refused Jean-Louis Debré’s offer to succeed him as UMP deputy for Eure. Rather than returning to his original body, Bruno Le Maire jumps at the chance. ” Do you think I can get elected? he asks me. “ Yes, provided you put yourself within reach of slaps and go all out “, he is told.
The enarque-normalien then put his writing desires on hold and set off on the roads of Normandy. And emerges victorious from a fratricidal primary. What follows is an irresistible ascent. In the National Assembly, the chiraco-villepiniste quickly stands out. And not only because of his height of ninety-one. He cuts his way through the clans of the right. Wins a first ministerial portfolio in 2008 (European Affairs) before discovering the agricultural world where he will remain until 2012. His real baptism of fire with his share of muscular demonstrations by farmers.
But with Bruno Le Maire, writing is never far away. After getting noticed by publishing a first essay “The Minister” (2004), in which he recounts his job as a feather adviser, he did it again in 2008 with “Statesmen”. A hard-hitting story that recounts from the inside the impossible threesome between Chirac-Sarkozy-Villepin. The opus blurs it with chiraquia. Sarkozie laughs. The minister-writer doesn’t care. He took the opportunity to form a close guard around a few promising advisers, including Sébastien Lecornu, the current Minister of the Armed Forces. Because Le Maire sees beyond 2012. He does not really believe in the re-election of Sarkozy. In 2013, he signed a new and scathing book (“Days of Power”) on his Sarkozy years…
Now emancipated, he does not wait his turn. He challenges the ex-president during his return to politics. An inflated operation but which offers him notoriety. Failing success. A trial run for the 2016 presidential primary where he won with 2.4% of the vote… The step was too high. The ambitious Le Maire learns humility. Deserting the Fillon camp in the middle of the presidential election, he passed with arms and baggage to Emmanuel Macron and became Minister of Economy and Finance in the first government of Edouard Philippe. In Bercy, he consolidated his fort over the years with the confidence of Alexis Köhler, the powerful secretary general of the Elysée and real number two in Macronist power.
His relations with Edouard Philippe are fresh. They will be more indifferent with his successor Jean Castex. These two don’t like each other very much. The appointment of Elisabeth Borne does not bother him. The number two of the government has widened its perimeter. Basically, Bruno Le Maire understood that the President of the Republic would not appoint him to Matignon. The most experienced of ministers, also the most professional, has not won Jupiter’s confidence. Just his respect for “the professional”. Which is already not bad from Emmanuel Macron, president-philosopher probably envious of his writer minister.
In the immediate future, the strong man of the government in post at Bercy for 2,182 days (only VGE has done better) must urgently regain control of France’s public finances or risk ending up like Greece and mortgaging his own political future. “ The restoration of public accounts is not negotiable “, he proclaims. Before leaving the Ministry of Economy and Finance, he must therefore prove that the “whatever the cost” is over. This is the whole challenge of the 2024 budget. After that, there will always be time for Le Maire to prepare his next escape. Towards the Élysée or literature.
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