French civil officer Jean Castex has developed a policy to relax the coronavirus lock
Paris:
French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday appointed a senior official to replace Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, whose government resigned after a poor local election for the ruling party.
The new Prime Minister, Jean Castex, officially a member of the right-wing opposition but responsible for overseeing the gradual emergence of the country from coronavirus blockage, takes over as Philippe leaves the post after three years, announced the Elysée.
President Macron has said he will set a “new path” for the government as the country grapples with the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
A broader cabinet reshuffle could now take place later today.
Speculation that Philippe was about to go out rose this week after Macron’s centrist party was routed in municipal elections last Sunday and the Greens took control of several major cities.
Philippe, a right-wing politician who has never joined Macron’s Republic on the Move, easily won his candidacy to become mayor of Le Havre.
Yet while Macron was widely expected to seek to strengthen his socialist credentials with a left-wing prime minister, Castex is from the right-wing Republican party.
While Philippe’s approval ratings increased during his management of the coronavirus crisis, those of Macron, who has pursued ambitious economic reforms since he came to power in 2017, have dropped.
In an interview with regional newspapers published Thursday evening, Macron said that France should prepare for an “extremely difficult” economic crisis, “so we have to chart a new course”.
“I see this on the basis of economic, social, environmental and cultural reconstruction,” he said. “Behind that, there will be a new team.”
Serving Macron since the start of his presidency, Philippe has gone through a series of controversial reviews that have triggered massive strikes and the fierce anti-government “yellow vest” revolt.
At a meeting Thursday, Macron and Philippe “agreed on the need for a new government to embody a new phase for this mandate,” said an Elysée official on Friday.
“A new phase is opening, with new talents and new methods of governance,” said the source.
– High rotation –
The press had suggested that possible replacements could have included Defense Minister Florence Parly or Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, both socialists, before joining Macron’s team.
But analysts say Macron had a slim bank of potential replacements, not least because his young party failed to stand out from its parliamentary ranks – meaning it could exploit someone relatively unknown to the public.
Other senior ministers may also be on track for a cabinet reshuffle which could be completed by the end of the day.
Interior Minister Christophe Castaner was subjected to particular pressures, who were attacked by critics for failing to control the riots and looting that marred the 2018-2019 “yellow vest” demonstrations.
More recently, Castaner has drawn the wrath of police who say they did not support them against new allegations of violence and racism in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Already since the start of Macron’s presidency, a total of 17 ministers have resigned from the government, most recently Agnes Buzyn, who resigned from his post as Minister of Health in a condemned attempt to snatch the post of mayor of Paris from the socialist Anne Hidalgo.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
