Unshakeable minister, former reservist, "old school" credentials... We present to you Sébastien Lecornu, new head of government

Emmanuel Macron had promised to appoint a new Prime Minister "in the next few days" on the evening of the fall of François Bayrou's government. Barely 24 hours later, it was done: Sébastien Lecornu was appointed to Matignon by the President of the Republic on Tuesday, September 9, shortly before 8 p.m. Aged 39, the outgoing Minister of the Armed Forces, close to the Head of State, is still little known to the French, even though he has been in every government since Emmanuel Macron's arrival at the Élysée. Here is what to remember from an already rich political career.

He has been in every government since 2017

The new Prime Minister is a discreet man with the air of a survivor. He is the only surviving minister from all the Macron-era governments and has therefore had six different tenants of Matignon (where he himself was already strongly tipped to succeed Michel Barnier last December). Sébastien Lecornu held the positions of Secretary of State to the Minister of Ecological Transition, Minister of Local Authorities, and then Minister of Overseas Territories, before landing at the Ministry of the Armed Forces, which he had headed for three years. It is in this position that he is identified by public opinion in the context of the war in Ukraine and international tensions. A position of trust where he has definitively forged a special bond with Emmanuel Macron.

He organized the great national debate after the "yellow vest" movement.

He didn't know Emmanuel Macron before joining Edouard Philippe's government in 2017. He belongs to a series of elected officials from the Republicans (LR) who joined the president-elect, following in the footsteps of Bruno Le Maire and Gérald Darmanin, but he is not the best known. As Minister for Local Authorities, the Élysée Palace tenant asked him, during the first half of 2019, to organize part of the "great debates" to respond to the anger of the "yellow vests." Thanks to him, Emmanuel Macron met with elected officials across France and considered this operation a success.

He had an early political start

Sébastien Lecornu had a precocious political career. He joined the UMP, the forerunner of the LR, at 16. He then campaigned in the Eure department and became mayor of Vernon in 2014, at just 27 years old. A year later, he became president of the Eure departmental council, with the support of Bruno Le Maire, another prominent right-wing elected official in the region, to whom he is close. He is the youngest departmental head in France. In 2020, he was elected senator, even though, as a minister, he cannot sit in the Luxembourg Palace. At 39, he has held every possible political office, except one: Member of the National Assembly.

He had Alexandre Benalla under his command

Sébastien Lecornu belonged to the operational reserve of the gendarmerie. In this capacity, he was the platoon commander of Alexandre Benalla, Emmanuel Macron's former bodyguard . " I must have had him under my command about ten times, in 2012 or 2013," he confided to the newspaper Le Monde in 2018. The new Prime Minister is passionate about military matters. Joining the Ministry of the Armed Forces was the culmination of this commitment. "These issues fascinate me and I am grateful to the President of the Republic for having renewed his confidence in me with each reshuffle. I give everything and he knows that I have energy to spare in this ministry," he confided to Le Parisien at the end of August . A profile published in Le Point recalls that Sébastien Lecornu "collects medals and military caps and is crazy about patriotic ceremonies."

He readily displays "old school" tastes.

"I live in a time that is not mine" is a quote that many articles attribute to the new Prime Minister. An admirer of filmmakers like Georges Lautner and Michel Audiard, and a great connoisseur of Thierry Le Luron – a star comedian of the 1970s and 80s who died the year he was born – Sébastien Lecornu shares Emmanuel Macron's vintage references. The new head of government also practices hunting and enjoys whisky and cigar moments to put the world to rights with his political friends, including Gérald Darmanin, a close friend with whom he regularly goes on vacation .