Macron picks rightist PM to widen appeal
New French President Emmanuel Macron named centre-right legislator Edouard Philippe as Prime Minister on Monday in a further effort to splinter the country’s traditional parties and redraw the political map.
Mr Philippe, a little known 46-year-old MP and mayor of the northern port of Le Havre, comes from the moderate wing of the right-wing Republicans party, and is seen as a pragmatist.
His appointment was seen as a strategic move by 39year-old
Edouard Philippe, a little-known MP and mayor of the northern port of Le Havre, comes from the moderate wing of the right-wing Republicans, and is seen as a pragmatist
Mr Macron, who is trying to woo modernisers of all stripes to his new centrist party, the Republique en Marche (Republic on the Move, REM).
France’s fervently pro-European new President — who travelled to Berlin later to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel — has already won over dozens of moderate Socialist MPs.
Former investment banker Mr Macron, who trounced far-right leader Marine Le Pen in the May 7 presidential run-off, aims to take votes from both the Republicans and Socialists in June’s crucial parliamentary election. Mr Philippe has been presented as his Trojan horse on the right of the spectrum.
Taking over from outgoing Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve during a short ceremony, Mr Philippe described himself as “a man of the right” who was driven by “the greater good”.
Like Mr Macron, Mr Philippe is a product of France’s elite ENA college, and has worked in the private sector.
France’s new Prime Minister Edouard Philippe is a low-profile 46-year-old from the rightwing Republicans party whose politics and interests mirror those of centrist President Emmanuel Macron.
Both come from provincial France but followed a classic route through the elite universities Sciences Po and ENA, then public service in Paris and on to politics. Both have also worked briefly in the private sector: Philippe in a law firm and then as a lobbyist for state nuclear group Areva, while Macron was once an investment banker.
And both count well-connected political advisor and writer Jacques Attali as well as late Socialist Prime Minister Michel Rocard as influences during their ascent through French political life.
But whereas Macron considers himself leftleaning and got his break under Socialist President Francois Hollande, Philippe has worked his way up internally through conservative Republicans.
The mayor of his hometown since 2010, the gritty northern port of Le Havre, Philippe was first elected to Parliament in 2012 as a Republicans MP for his Seine-Maritime area.
The son of two teachers is a longtime ally of exPrime Minister Alain Juppe, the veteran centrist whom he backed as a candidate for the Republicans’ nomination for this year’s election.
“He has the advantage of being completely unknown to the average French person,” political analyst Chloe Morin of the Jean-Jaures Foundation, a left-leaning think-tank, told AFP.
Macron, who won the presidential election on May 7, came to power promising to renew French politics and bring in fresh faces.
As well as their similarities in outlook and experience, Philippe’s political positioning is crucial to understanding why France’s youngest President has plucked him from relative obscurity.
Macron is hoping to attract other young, centrist allies in the Republicans to his new Republique En Marche party (Republic on the Move, REM), and his choice will perhaps entice others to cross over. Macron wants to win a parliamentary majority in June elections with the REM, which he hopes will redraw the political landscape, ending the grip of traditional forces of left and right, the Socialists and Republicans.
“Intelligent, lively and at times a bit crazy,” one insider who worked with Philippe in the Republicans party said on condition of anonymity.
“He’s not easy to get to know,” a politician in his native Normandy also said on condition of anonymity, adding that Philippe “doesn’t have massive warmth” despite having many qualities.