Most members of the French government emerged from the prime minister's office perplexed. On September 21, when the 14 ministers (justice, interior, city, housing, education, culture, etc.) left Elisabeth Borne after a three-hour meeting about the urban riots of early July, it seemed clear to all that the "major response" called for by President Emmanuel Macron on July 21 for fall would have to wait. The ministers, who worked over the summer on possible measures to prevent civil unrest in the country from flaring up again, took turns to present their ideas, with no single consensus emerging. The interior ministry summed up the situation by saying: "They cast a wide net." But it added with concern: "People can see that a tourniquet has been applied to prevent bleeding, but the wound has not been healed."
More than three months after the death of teenager Nahel M., shot dead by a police officer during a traffic stop in Nanterre (west of Paris) on June 27 – which sparked attacks on police stations, schools, town halls and libraries – the prime minister's office called for a deferral until "the end of October," before providing the 500 mayors of the worst-affected towns with the response they have been waiting for since July 4 and their meeting with Macron at the Elysée Palace. The inter-ministerial council on cities (initially scheduled for October 9), at which the prime minister was due to present the government's response to the riots, was postponed. In the meantime, a National Council for Refoundation (CNR) discussed the subject of urban violence on October 5, but no announcement was made by the government. "This is no longer a time for grand speeches but a time for action," said Stanislas Guerini, the minister for transformation and the civil service.
"The government says it wants to take time. In reality, it's trying to buy time," said Eric Coquerel, an MP with the radical left La France Insoumise party at the begining of October. Les Républicains senator Bruno Retailleau believed that "it's astonishing. The technique is always the same. The government has this ability to respond 'procedurally' to fundamental problems. For the Yello Vests, it was a Great Debate. For pensions, it was the '100 days.' And now, it's a CNR. An assessment of the riots hasn't even been made, apart from 'Kévin and Mattéo!'" At a Sénat hearing on July 5, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin asserted that many of the rioters were "Kévin and Mattéo," quintessentially French first names, refusing to support the idea promoted by the right and far right that the violence was linked to immigration.
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