Sylvie Goulard, Minister for the Armed Forces. Why ?
(B2) Everyone was able to question and discuss the reasons for the new name of the Minister of Defence, now Minister for the Armed Forces, and his scope of action.
Minister of War, Armies, Defence?
This denomination is indeed quite old and has a more Pompidolian tone than modern. The title of Minister for the Armed Forces is rare in recent French ministerial history. The old Ministry of War became in modern times, Ministry of Defense, thus taking on a more general assertion, then covering the Air and the Navy. It was only during a few intermittent periods that he took the name of Minister of the Armed Forces. The first to hold this title was Edmond Michelet, for a brief period after the Second World War. In the Fifth Republic, the ministers bearing this title are mainly counted at the beginning of the Fifth and especially under the Pompidou era. The last to hold this title Robert Galley in 1974, after Pierre Messmer.
The minister of the "armies" is no longer minister of defence?
But we must be right, the decrees are clear on the issue, today's Minister of the Armed Forces has the same scope of action as a Minister of Defense yesterday (as defined by the Defense Code) .
Who has the capacity to define national defence?
From a constitutional point of view, it is the President of the Republic who is “the chief of the armed forces” and “chairs the councils and the higher committees of national defence” (article 15). Even if it is the Prime Minister who is “responsible for national defence” and appoints civil AND military posts” (article 27), this assertion is more valid on questions of civil protection than military defence. In fact, the practice wanted that the question of the direction of the armies as of the design of the national defense is the fact of the President. A practice that dates back to Royalty and the Empire.
What is the Minister's room for manoeuvre?
What makes the weight of a Minister of Defense next to a President is not so much in the title as in the way the President sees his role, in the confidence he has in his Minister... and events. A "Le Drian" who had Hollande's full confidence is not a "Morin" who didn't really have Sarkozy's confidence. It is a certain fact, it is that in France, it is the President who has a primordial role in matters of defence.
What is the particularity of the post of Defense at the political level?
It is one of the sovereign posts (along with that of Foreign Affairs) over which the President of the Republic retains control, or a certain control (in the event of cohabitation), and to which the Prime Minister has nothing (or little ) to say. In a government where women do not, despite everything, have a major position, having a woman in this position is also, and above all, a political signal.
Why Sylvie Goulard in this position?
Sylvie Goulard is a faithful, one of the first to have rallied to Emmanuel Macron. She has, moreover, a rigor, a certain rigidity, some would say, a functioning that will perhaps become acclimatized. She is also a convinced European, a good connoisseur of European spans in Brussels, and known in Berlin or Rome. This in itself is a very clear signal of the priorities that the new president wants to give. . Admittedly, she is not a Defense specialist (she was more interested in the Euro Zone and the economy than in strategic issues, it is no secret). But she is an intelligent woman, able to understand a file very quickly.
Germany in the sights?
After Mali and NATO, in the footsteps of Emmanuel Macron, the first trip abroad of the new minister will be ... for Berlin. A passage almost obligatory for any minister of the Macron I government. A necessity if we want to advance a little bit the Europe of defense. Because between Germany and France, even if there seems to be agreement on the words, the disagreements on the bottom are numerous, in particular on the permanent structured cooperation. Germany has been waiting for months for a more deliberate commitment from Paris to this project.
(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)
