French right torn as Macron, PM Philippe set to name government

PARIS: A senior member of France’s main conservative party disowned his colleague Edouard Philippe yesterday for taking up the job of prime minister under centrist President Emmanuel Macron.

Speaking as the new president prepared to name the rest of his government later in the day, Francois Baroin, the election campaign leader of The Republicans (LR) party, which is being torn apart by Macron’s divide and conquer tactics, said on BFM TV that Philippe had “made a choice which is not ours”.

Macron appointed Philippe, from the moderate wing of the party, on Monday, to head his first government in a move aimed at broadening his political appeal and weakening opponents before parliamentary elections next month.

Several Socialist members of parliament have also joined Macron’s cause and 21 LR members of parliament, including some party heavyweights and former ministers, issued a joint statement urging the party to positively respond to the “hand extended by the president”.

“It will be up to him to struggle with this element of schizophrenia,” Baroin added.

Macron is looking to the elections to give him and his Republic on the Move (REM) party the majority in parliament needed to push through his plans to cut state spending, boost investment and create jobs, after years of economic malaise.

The nomination is a direct challenge to The Republicans, who say they aim to be the biggest party in the lower house of parliament, but are lagging behind REM in the first opinion polls ahead of that ballot.

Baroin reacted sharply to a suggestion that Macron, a 39-year-old ex-banker who served briefly as economy minister in a socialist government, was reshaping politics.