A resignation without effect
Even before the reshuffle was announced, the Ministry of Housing already had no minister. Indeed, as early as December 22, 2015, Sylvia Pinel had already announced her intention to leave the rue de Varenne if she was elected first vice-president of the Languedoc-Roussillon-Midi-Pyrénées region on January 4.
Once elected, consistent and in accordance with one of François Hollande's campaign promises in his now famous anaphor “I, President of the Republic, ministers will not be able to combine their duties with a local mandate”, the latter asserted her intention to resign at the end of January.
Yes, but the still Minister of Housing, Territorial Equality and Rurality will have to wait until February 11. Clearly, this position did not deserve to be reshuffled.
It therefore took a real heavyweight in the government to announce his departure, in this case Laurent Fabius, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Tourism, for the story to accelerate.
The Ministry of Housing ignored by the media
As soon as a reshuffle was mentioned, we witnessed the usual turmoil in the political microcosm and a flood of articles on “who could be, who will perhaps be, who will leave...”. For our part, we named Thierry Repentin as “more or less the only specialist in the housing issue in the Socialist Party”.
Alas, the Ministry of Housing disappeared from the media radars. Except for the mention of the name Jean-Michel Baylet, because the housing was to be used to replace one PRG by another PRG. But let's be reassured, the man who was minister nearly a quarter of a century ago declined the invitation, not to be a minister, but to be the minister of housing... real estate professionals will appreciate it.
Apart from this mention, the only ministries subject to forecasts were those of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ecology, possibly Agriculture, perhaps a single major ministry for Bercy, or even a change of Prime Minister.
But nothing on the Ministry of Housing, well almost... because the observers quickly understood that Greens had to be brought into the government. The COP21 past, it became urgent. What if the Ministry of Housing could host one of them... After all, it served well, in the past, to accommodate Cécile Duflot at the Hotel de Castries with the consequences that we know...
Le Coup de Cosse
With the approach of the “imminent” announcement, which lasted several hours, the cause seemed to be heard. The name of Emmanuelle Cosse, national secretary of EELV, was increasingly cited as that of the future Minister of Housing. And what was supposed to happen happened.
The day after her appointment, the new Minister of Housing and Sustainable Housing hastened to describe Cécile Duflot's Alur law as “the major law of this five-year term”. Sylvia Pinel will appreciate it in turn. Manuel Valls too, who promised to unravel this indigestible law.
Note in passing that the brand-new Minister of Housing has decided to keep her mandate as councillor (EELV) of the Ile-de-France Region, this time it is François Hollande who will appreciate it.
However, there is no question here of making a mockery of intent to the new minister. On the other hand, the safest prognosis is that it will have no room for manoeuvre by April 2017. At best, we can hope that the ecologist Emmanuelle Cosse will advance the files of the Sustainable Building Plan implemented by all actors in the real estate industry with Philippe Pelletier at the head.