Emmanuel Macron has finally chosen his lead candidate for the European elections, scheduled for June 9. It will be Valérie Hayer, currently the president of the Renew Europe group of MEPs in the European Parliament and rather unknown to the general public. On Saturday, February 24, at the momentous Paris International Agricultural Show, the French president confirmed that he had made a decision – without revealing the name of this 37-year-old MEP. The following day, the economic newspaper La Tribune dimanche broke the news, reporting that Macron had informed his long-term ally and coalition partner François Bayrou on February 20.
On Sunday morning, Hayer was still waiting on the official phone call from the Elysée. However, according to several people from Macron's camp, "there's no suspense and no plan B," and the official announcement of her appointment was imminent. All the more so as she is due to give a press conference in Strasbourg on Tuesday, as she has done at every previous plenary session of the European Parliament.
Some of her fellow MEPs were quick to congratulate her: "[We are] all united behind Valérie Hayer to defend our record and carry our project," wrote MEP Nathalie Loiseau – who had herself headed the Renaissance (Macron's centrist party) list for the 2019 European elections – on X on Sunday. "Excellent news, a competent and courageous young woman is our list head!" commented Irène Tolleret, another Renew group MEP, also on X.
With several polls over the past few weeks having put the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party well ahead of Renaissance and with Macron's bloc being the last French political group to have still not chosen its lead candidate, pressure was mounting on the Elysée to make a decision. The RN has nominated its president, Jordan Bardella, Les Républicains (LR, right) chose François-Xavier Bellamy, the Parti Socialiste and Place publique (left) came together behind Raphaël Glucksmann, the French Greens chose Marie Toussaint and far-right party Reconquête ! chose Marion Maréchal. "I hope we'll make up for the delay. We've lost time and [I] deplore that," declared Renaissance MEP Bernard Guetta on France 2 public television, on February 16.
Macron had hesitated for a long time: Hayer was not his first choice. Yet former agriculture minister Julien Denormandie, who – in these times of social crisis among the rural population – had been the President's favorite, had refused to hear of his selection. Neither did Jean-Yves Le Drian, the former defense and foreign affairs minister, who – with the war in Ukraine bogged down and common European defense yet to be constructed – had also been favored by the president. Nor was Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, who has repeatedly stated his refusal to go into exile in Brussels, interested in the role. As for former Transport Minister Clément Beaune – who has long advised Macron on EU matters – he failed to convince the Elysée, which preferred a young, non-Parisian woman to him. Meanwhile, the hypothetical choice of Thierry Breton, the current Commissioner for the Internal Market, was not selected.
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