In the first episode of François Lenglet's new podcast, Why Make It Complicated?, Bruno Le Maire looked back on his brief stint at the Ministry of the Armed Forces within the Lecornu I government. A surprise appointment, on October 5, which sent shockwaves through the majority and the right. Barely fourteen hours after the announcement, Sébastien Lecornu resigned, swept away by the political crisis caused by this unexpected return of the former Minister of the Economy. "I had been asked for several weeks to return to the government, I had closed the door, I had even said so publicly," says Bruno Le Maire. "But they explained to me that it was not a question of policy, but a question of mission. War is at the gates of Europe, Russian threats have never been so great... I was told that I was the most appropriate person. In the end, I said yes, out of a sense of mission."
"I underestimated the smallness and mediocrity of the parties"
The man who held the record for longevity at Bercy, from 2017 to 2024, claims to have accepted this position without calculation. "I like to take risks and not be involved in calculations," he confides. But the decision quickly descended into chaos. Bruno Le Maire admits that he had "not thought about the political consequences" and that he did not imagine provoking such a chain reaction. Faced with the anger of Bruno Retailleau and the Republicans, he says he was "stunned": "I underestimated the smallness, the mediocrity, the weakness of the parties and of certain political leaders."
The former minister castigates a political class incapable of rising above partisan quarrels. "I was struck by the extent to which, in our country, some are willing to sacrifice the national interest for petty revenge or posturing," he laments. This is a thinly veiled way of targeting the parliamentary right, whose refusal to support the Lecornu government precipitated the crisis.
Since then, Bruno Le Maire has kept his distance from political life, observing the ongoing reorganization. Neither he nor Bruno Retailleau were included in the new government formed after the fall of Sébastien Lecornu's first government. The latter, weakened but still in power, narrowly escaped the two motions of censure presented last Thursday in the National Assembly. As for Bruno Le Maire, he concludes in the podcast: "I have no regrets. When you act out of duty, you sleep well."
