July 2023 French government reshuffle

[1][2] The reshuffle was seen as an opportunity for Macron to "reset" his presidency, after the contentious passage of a pension system reform and the 2023 French riots, and reassert his authority, significantly diminished following the result of the legislative election the previous year.

Despite expectations that the reshuffle was to be pivotal to the rest of Macron's second term and that it would indicate a clear, fresh political direction for the country, few changes to the cabinet's composition were made and, crucially, Borne retained her position as head of government.

Overall, the operation was interpreted as a fallback reshuffle, in a sense that the President sought to close ranks around his leadership by rewarding loyalist politicians, pushing out civil society figures and minimally altering existing political balances inside his Cabinet.

[12] According to another poll conducted by the Elabe institute for news channel BFMTV on the 18 and 19 July (i.e., before the full extent of the reshuffle was known), 55% of the respondents thought Macron was "wrong" in keeping Borne as PM.

The consequence is that the reshuffle, in contrary to one of its purposes, did not change the parliamentary arithmetics, forcing Macron's administration to carry on governing on an ad-hoc, day-to-day basis, therefore risking deadlock and showdown with an opposition-dominated Parliament in the coming months.