French President Macron Seeks A Reset After Pushing Out Prime Minister Borne

(Bloomberg) -- French President Emmanuel Macron is seeking to inject new energy into his administration after a bruising political year, pushing out Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and getting set to name a close ally as successor.

Macron is expected to name Education Minister Gabriel Attal, 34, as Borne’s replacement, according to French media.

The new prime minister would then be charged with forming a government, though several current ministers are expected to retain their positions and the new group may be announced at the same time by Macron’s office.

While Macron has more than three years left in his mandate, he is already looking toward his legacy and concerned whether he might be succeeded by nationalist party leader Marine Le Pen, whom he beat in the two prior presidential elections. European elections, to be held in June, are a test case for the growing popularity of her party, the National Rally. So far, the outlook is grim for Macron, with Le Pen’s party easily outpacing his own in polls of voting intentions.

Regardless of who is tapped to be prime minister, Macron’s policies are unlikely to change. In his televised speech on New Year’s Eve, Macron laid out his plans for France in 2024, which included continuing to try to attract companies to France and creating more of them at home, as well as pushing ahead on major programs in nuclear power, artificial intelligence and transportation.

Macron thanked Borne for her work and service in a post on social media platform X, and in a statement from his office said she will continue to run the government until her replacement is named.

In a letter to her boss, Borne said the president had told her he wanted to replace her. 

A former labor, environment and transport minister who was known for being a technocrat, Borne was only the second woman to hold the post in France. She was appointed in 2022 shortly after Macron’s reelection on a reform platform. 

She has struggled to build a coalition to pass legislation in the National Assembly after Macron lost his outright majority in 2022, and had to resort last year to using a constitutional provision to push through an unpopular retirement reform without a full vote.

The change in government comes just weeks after lawmakers approved an immigration bill that passed with conservatives’ votes, deepening fractures within Macron’s party. The new legislation prompted the resignation of the health minister and fueled anger among the president’s left-leaning supporters.

Macron and Borne have both suffered from weak polling figures. Only 23% of those surveyed had confidence in Borne, according to a poll this month by Elabe for Les Echos, while 27% had faith in Macron. The same poll found that Attal was the second-most popular politician in France, with a 39% approval rating, trailing only former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and just ahead of far-right National Rally leader Marine Le Pen.

While inflation has slowed significantly from its peak and the government expects it to ease below 3% in the first half, sluggish growth may undermine his efforts to create jobs and repair public finances.

(Updates with inflation outlook in the final paragraph.)

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