French President Emmanuel Macron is not expected to name the next prime minister before the end of next week although he is already being officially sworn in for a second term on Saturday (7 May), as several prominent figures have reportedly already turned down the job. EURACTIV France reports.
The current government of Prime Minister Jean Castex will remain in place “until the end of Emmanuel Macron’s first five-year term”, government spokesman Gabriel Attal said at the end of Wednesday’s Council of Ministers – meaning on 13 May, when Macron’s first term officially comes to an end.
Traditionally, however, the appointment of the next prime minister takes place the day the newly elected president is inaugurated or the day after.
Macron’s inauguration day, which marks the handover of power, is scheduled for Saturday (7 May).
But the 44-year-old centrist president is facing difficulties in his search for a new prime minister, particularly given the criteria he himself set after his re-election on 24 April – of someone who must be “committed to the social question, the ecological question and the productive question”.
With the republican right being weak and its voters having already largely rallied behind the re-elected president, Macron would likely favour a left-wing profile.
Were Macron to nominate a social democrat, however, this could also destabilise the current attempt to unite the French left, led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s radical left France Insoumise, which has already put the Socialist Party in turmoil.
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No candidates
Two prominent people have already turned down the post, according to media reports: Véronique Bédague, who had been cabinet director of the former Socialist prime minister Manuel Valls and is now the managing director of the real estate giant Nexity, and Valérie Rabault, president of the Socialist Group in the National Assembly.
It is likely that they had been approached by the president’s entourage, and not by Macron himself.
A right-wing politician could also be nominated as “political colour does not tell the whole story,” Macron recently said. Christelle Morançais, president of the Pays de la Loire region, for example, has been mentioned as a possible candidate.
Former Transport and current Labour Minister Elisabeth Borne, from the Left, is also among the names currently being circulated.
However, for now, “no proposal has been made to anyone in this regard”, the government spokesman said, adding that the time for making decisions on who should take on the prime minister’s post has “not yet come”.
France is holding parliamentary elections on 12 and 19 June, which could further complicate the process, particularly if Macron’s LREM is unable to secure a stable majority in the new assembly.
[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]
Source: euractiv.com
