In the official photograph of the new French government, Eric Lombard will be noticeably absent – and not just because, at 1.91 meters, he was easy to spot. Among the main ministers who served under François Bayrou before his fall, Lombard was one of the only ones not re-appointed in Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s new cabinet, whose composition was partially unveiled on Sunday, October 5. After nine months at the Finance Ministry, the former head of the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, a powerful public investment institution, was pushed aside in favor of Roland Lescure, 58, an MP from President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party, Renaissance. Amélie de Montchalin, meanwhile, was re-appointed as minister of public accounts.
Lombard’s fate seemed sealed since the handover between Bayrou and Lecornu on September 10. “We will need ruptures, and not just in form, and not just on the method, but also ruptures in substance,” had said the new prime minister. How could one talk about “ruptures” while keeping the same finance minister, the very figure associated with the budget that led to Bayrou’s downfall?
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