'This would bring to an end two and a half months of political uncertainty'

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00:00Yeah, well, as you mentioned there, Gavin, announcement does appear to be imminent.

00:06Michel Barnier putting in phone calls to outgoing, incoming ministers that will form his, that

00:13will make up his new cabinet.

00:16Of course, on Friday evening, he submitted a final list of 38 names to President Emmanuel

00:22Macron.

00:23So this would bring to an end, it would seem, two and a half months of political uncertainty.

00:30Now, one of the reasons for the holdup in the announcement of that official list has

00:37been the fact that candidates need to be vetted by what's called the High Authority for Transparency

00:44in Public Life.

00:45This is a body that exists, that has existed since 2014, whose role is to ensure that public

00:51figures don't have any conflicts of interest, that they've paid their taxes, for example.

00:56So this is all customary.

00:58Now, in terms of names that we've seen on this list, reports of names, amongst the key

01:06ministries for foreign minister, we may see Jean-Noël Barrault, who could become France's

01:12next foreign minister.

01:14Antoine Armand, he's a 33-year-old rising star who hails from within Emmanuel Macron's

01:19own parliamentary grouping.

01:22He could be the next finance minister.

01:25And most significantly, the man who could become France's next minister of the interior,

01:30Bruno Retailleau, he's president of the Republicans in the Senate.

01:36And that's very significant, because if Bruno Retailleau does land that post, it will be

01:41a very big coup for the Republicans, of course.

01:44The Interior Minister overseeing the police, domestic security, immigration, of course,

01:50high on the agenda at the moment.

01:52So a big coup indeed for the Republicans, if that is confirmed, especially given that

01:56they finished fourth in legislative elections back in July.

02:00It's nice to talk to you while we are.

02:01We don't always get that view of the lycée from the back with the shops.

02:04You're getting some waves occasionally, a few bisous in the background behind you, Andrew,

02:07as people walk by and do their shopping on a Saturday.

02:10The interesting thing about this, I mean, maybe we'll see it develop, as we do with

02:14Emmanuel Macron sometimes lets in fly-on-the-wall crews and documentaries come out later of

02:17what went on.

02:18But reports on Tuesday that Michel Barnier and Emmanuel Macron sat down for lunch and

02:22had a barney, an argument, one of the issues about whether you have Interior Minister and

02:27Economy Minister both going to right or centre-right posts, given that the balance he's trying

02:33to make.

02:34The other issue that has come up recently, and tell us about this, Laurence Garnier for

02:38minister for family and whether or not she should be doing that job.

02:43Yeah, that's right.

02:46She's just one of the names that's actually stirred up a lot of controversy during this

02:51nomination process.

02:54She is a senator for the Republicans who is reportedly being considered for family minister.

03:02Now, her name is very controversial because she voted against same-sex marriage, and she's

03:08also voted against the inscription of the right to abortion in the French constitution.

03:15Now, there are some media reports saying that she has been dismissed, she has been rejected

03:22as a potential minister by Emmanuel Macron, but again, we will have to wait and see if

03:27her name appears on the official list of ministers, which we're expecting to see in the next few

03:34hours.

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