Macron tightens grip ahead of 2022 challenge

PARIS, France (AFP) — By replacing his popular prime minister with a little-known bureaucrat, French President Emmanuel Macron has signalled that he intends to tighten the reins on government ahead of a bid for re-election in 2022, analysts say.

Macron anointed Jean Castex to take over from Edouard Philippe, whose popularity rose as the public face of France’s coronavirus response even as the president lost support and his party suffered a humiliating rout in local government elections.

“And the new prime minister is .... #Emmanuelmacron,” analyst Jean Garrigues of the University of Orleans tweeted after the surprise appointment of Castex yesterday.

The move, he told AFP, was Macron’s way “to reclaim the dominant spot in the executive couple” after long butting heads on policy with Philippe.

Contrary to expectations that Macron would choose from the left of the political spectrum to appease widespread concern over his social agenda, the president looked to the right.

The new premier, like his predecessor, comes from The Republican right wing party of former Nicolas Sarkozy, who Castex had served alongside as deputy chief of staff.

But, importantly, he is “a complete unknown quantity politically”, according to Mujtaba Rahman, managing director for Europe of the Eurasia Group political risk consultancy.

“President Emmanuel Macron has decided, in effect, to be his own prime minister for the last two years of his mandate,” Rahman said.

Castex “will be the manager and de facto chief of staff while Macron takes direct control of Government in a lightning attempt to create a new record which he can present to the electorate in 2022”.

The mayor of a tiny commune in southern France, Castex’s most prominent job has been to oversee the easing of France’s coronavirus lockdown.