Politics. Medical Deserts: How Sébastien Lecornu Reconnects with the Concerns of the Yellow Vests

"Health centers" that offer "a minimum of local care by catchment area": ​​the first commitment of the new Prime Minister, this Saturday in Saône-et-Loire, was therefore to the fight against medical deserts. He specified in the interview given to our newspaper and to other major regional press titles, that the government will set up "a network of 5,000 France Santé centers within 30 minutes of every French person by 2027, on the scale of their catchment area", a measure "included in the budget for 2026".

On this point, Sébastien Lecornu is following in the footsteps of François Bayrou and Michel Barnier , who made medical deserts a priority for their government – ​​while the issue had been largely ignored by Emmanuel Macron and Gabriel Attal . This break is no coincidence: Sébastien Lecornu has experience of the problem as a former mayor of Vernon and president of the Eure departmental council.

This direction had been outlined since the transfer of power to François Bayrou. He pointed out "the gap between the political situation and what our fellow citizens legitimately expect for their daily lives, for the economic and social situation, and their security." It should be noted in passing that two terms were absent: "debt" and "immigration."

Sébastien Lecornu returns to this in today's interview, and shares one of the reasons for his approach: "In eight years, there are things we should have done, especially in the aftermath of the great national debate and the yellow vest crisis." The new Prime Minister remembers this all the more clearly because he was then tasked with leading the "Great Debate" after the crisis, gaining Emmanuel Macron's trust. He adds, in a new break with Macronie: "Parisian centralism exasperates a large proportion of our fellow citizens, business leaders, mayors, civil servants."

And here he returns to his dual past as moderator of the Great Debate and Minister of Local Authorities (2018-2020). "At the end of the Great Debate, we should have turned the tables," he says, before announcing "a major act of decentralization, clarification, and local freedom in Parliament." He promises to open "next week" consultations with "everyone, including citizens," to both "rethink the organization of the State" and simplify "the administrative mille-feuille" of local authorities. He is convinced: on this subject, "a majority of ideas is possible."

At this point, it's almost certain that the former president of Eure will not, unlike Emmanuel Macron, advocate the disappearance of the department. "We believe more than ever in the departmental level," he declared to Acteurs publics, contrasting "large regions, large intercommunalities" with "our fellow citizens' expectations for greater proximity and roots."

That's a lot of breaks. And in this area, it's with Emmanuel Macron that they will have to be made—if the president gives him the freedom to do so.