At the age of 32, Sébastien Lecornu continues the promotions. As Secretary of State for the Ecological Transition at the beginning of the five-year period, he was promoted minister to Minister Jacqueline Gourault at the Cohesion of the Territories during the last reshuffle in October. He is now co-pilot of the "great national debate" with his colleague Emmanuelle Wargon.
And the former elected LR is not there by chance. For this delicate job, it was necessary to love to rub the local elected officials, not to be afraid of contact with the disgruntled citizens, and have already won the trust of the president. Sébastien Lecornu ticks all the boxes.
A quick climb
Like Emmanuel Macron's, Sébastien Lecornu's career can often be related to his (young) age. The native of Val-d'Oise was the youngest parliamentary attaché in France at 19, before being the youngest department president in the Eure at 29 spring. Between the two, he went through the cabinet of Bruno Le Maire to European Affairs and Agriculture (also, younger ministerial adviser), but also by the mayor of Vernon, won in 2014. "In two years, you see, it will be more important than Gerard Collomb, "said one of his friends at L'Obs last year. "He will go very, very far, he is better than Darmanin."
In the government, too, its rise was lightning, from the State Secretariat for Ecological Transition to the Ministry of Territorial Cohesion. A transfer that is not to be taken lightly: when Sébastien Lecornu becomes minister to Minister Jacqueline Gourault, the dialogue seemed finally broken with local officials, annoyed by the attitude and policy of the executive, and quick to boycott all initiatives. In charge of local authorities, the former campaign manager of Bruno Le Maire for the right-wing primary in 2016, had a little pressure on the shoulders.
Accustomed hot folders
It must be said that Sébastien Lecornu had had the opportunity to prove himself in a year and a half. Alongside Nicolas Hulot, he had to deal with many sensitive matters, from the closure of Fessenheim to the abandonment of Notre-Dame-des-Landes, through the dialogue with hunters, which had precipitated the departure of his minister of tutelage.
A successful transfer to LREM
Another good point for Sébastien Lecornu in macronie: unlike other defectors of LR, including Edouard Philippe, he joined LREM as soon as he was excluded from LR. "My membership is not negotiable," he hammered in the columns of Paris-Normandy , who questioned him on the message sent to his municipal majority in Vernon. "The only purpose of my membership in LREM is to remember that we need to support government action."
The man who whispered in the ear of local elected officials ...
Elected from a rural department, Sébastien Lecornu does not hesitate to play. "My software is rather that of the agricultural world and territories," he explained to Libération in December 2017. This anchorage and his other life, that of an elected "old world" who attends friendly bowlers and all the wishes of the associative milieu, serve him enormously. The man likes to shake hands, to make contact. Very useful for a "big national debate" whose local elected officials must be the pivots.
... and those of "yellow vests"?
Will he be able to also listen to the "yellow vests"? He believes that his modest origins have protected him from the disconnection that is often taxed elites. "I come from a popular family, farmers and tradesmen in Elboeuf, Seine-Maritime," he told Libération . "He is an elected representative of the field, close to the people," confirms an adviser to the Point .
The field at the time of the "yellow vests", Sebastien Lecornu has already rubbed the malcontents last week, when a lady stopped him during a trip to the Hautes-Alpes, accusing France of employing " CRS killers "come from abroad. "I wore the uniform, I'm a reservist, you can not talk about police and gendarmes as you say," he said. Quiet, but very firm, in the pure Macronist tradition.