Rugby, horse racing and tenacity: after six months of trials at Matignon, François Bayrou's secrets for keeping his spirits up

Is François Bayrou made of hardened steel? Six months to the day after his arrival at Matignon, the centrist is still holding the helm. There has been no shortage of trials in recent months, from the commission of inquiry into Notre-Dame-de-Bétharram to the barbs of Bruno Retailleau , his popular Minister of the Interior, to the tragedy of the death of a supervisor who killed a middle school student this Tuesday .

As for the National Assembly, support is rather meager, with a group of only 36 Modem deputies, coupled with elected LR and Renaissance members who often give him half-hearted support. And yet, morale seems good.

"You don't spend years believing in your destiny and then, when you get there, decide to give up because the time isn't easy, especially when you knew it was coming," one of his close friends told BFMTV.

It's hard to blame him: François Bayrou never seemed to discover the difficulties of the position nicknamed by some of his predecessors "the hell of Matignon" after having hoped to enter it for years . During the handover of power with Michel Barnier in December, barely three months without managing to get the 2025 budgets adopted, the centrist even spoke of the "Himalayas" of difficulties that awaited him.

Thanks to an agreement with the socialists last January , conditional on a meeting between social partners on pension reform, the head of the Modem nevertheless managed to cross his first mountain pass.

"Landing on budgets, where Michel Barnier, who we thought was perhaps more skillful, failed, gave him a lot of strength, both politically and mentally," acknowledges one of his loyal companions.

"It illustrated what he had been theorizing for years by showing that we could overcome political divisions when times were critical."

Another test: his hearing before the commission of inquiry into violence in schools , particularly at Notre-Dame-de-Bétharram.

The head of government is accused by witnesses of having been aware of accusations of sexual assault within this Catholic establishment, where several of his children were educated in the 1990s and where his wife taught catechism . François Bayrou has always denied having been aware of the situation.

After hesitating over the strategy to adopt and several unfortunate statements, the centrist finally chose the attack, defending himself foot to foot before the commission of inquiry .

So much so that his hearing in May sometimes seemed to turn into a wrestling match with one of the rapporteurs, the rebellious MP Paul Vannier, repeatedly referred to as a "prosecutor." The 5.5-hour hearing clearly did him good. Upon leaving, François Bayrou even spoke of it as a "liberating moment."

"He's someone who may seem like still waters but knows how to bite when you come looking for him. That's exactly what happened and no one has come to bother him since," a ministerial advisor summed up abruptly.

"The lesson is that he is not someone you can divert from his course and who knows how to maintain it against all odds," summarizes Modem MP Michaël Cosson.

Yet, sometimes, the Prime Minister lets slip some feelings in May in front of Renaissance deputies whom he invited to dinner at Matignon. " It's not fun every day," the mayor of Pau told them , regretting the "multiplication of traps set."

And it's not over yet. The conclusions of the pension reform conclave will be delivered next week . Olivier Faure's troops have already warned: they won't give him any gifts and are now waiting for the eventual agreement that emerges from it to be presented to Parliament. But there's no question of raising his concerns. I believe "there is a path," the centrist said this Thursday.

"The Coué method rhymes with François Bayrou, you didn't know," says a Modem MP, laughing.

Another pitfall between now and mid-July: the unveiling of the Modem leader's planned savings of €40 billion in the social security and state budgets. Here again, the road ahead looks steep, surrounded by red lines.

The right officially refuses any new tax increase and the socialists are threatening to censure the Prime Minister in the autumn if he activates Article 49.3 , this constitutional mechanism which allows a budget to be passed without a vote.

But the strategy remains the same for the Prime Minister: let everyone show their hand, keep a low profile to let them fight in the void and, in the end, present them with a fait accompli by announcing the options chosen by the government.

"His method is to attempt to resolve the budgetary issues in a way that has never been tried before. He is driven by this vision for the future, which gives him strength and determination," philosophizes Modem MP Erwan Balanant.

And to get his head out of the handlebars in the evening, François Bayrou can take a look at the rugby matches, a sport he loves to watch in the evening at Matignon, or closely follow the results of the races of the horses he raises in his house in Bordères, a stone's throw from Pau.