Macron faces bigger reshuffle after justice minister quits
French President Emmanuel Macron is shaking up his fiveweek-old government Wednesday – and will have to make more changes than anticipated after the minister who was leading Macron’s crusade to purify politics was forced to quit over corruption allegations.
Justice Minister Francois Bayrou’s departure is the latest drama to hit Macron’s presidency. He’s one of four ministers who have announced this week they’re leaving the government.
Bayrou announced his resignation Wednesday following allegations of misuse of European Parliament funds by the centrist party he founded, the Modem. Even more embarrassing for Macron is that his justice minister was in the process of promoting a law to clean up politics, a key policy promise of the recently elected president.
Bayrou claimed during a news conference that he “was the target of these denunciations in the goal of discrediting the minister who is creating this law.
He said he chose “not to expose the government that I support to a campaign of lies” and vowed to continue helping Macron.
He expressed his “faith in justice” and insisted the party’s management of human resources was “legal ... and moral.”
The reshuffle, which was expected to take place by the end of the day, was initially intended to be minor following Sunday’s big win for Macron’s Republic on the Move! party in legislative elections.
Bayrou’s departure means Modem has lost all three Cabinet posts it had in Macron’s government, following the departure of defence chief Sylvie Goulard and Marielle de Sarnez, the minister for European affairs.
Government spokesman Christophe Castaner said on radio Europe 1 that Bayrou’s decision was a “personal choice”.
But Castaner also acknowledged that “it simplifies the situation” because the government will no longer be dogged by questions about Bayrou and his party.
European affairs minister De Sarnez pulled out of the government just days after winning a seat in Sunday’s elections. She will now preside over Modem party lawmakers in the lower house, French media reported.