A little-known Public Servant who coordinated France’s COVID-19 reopening strategy has been named as the country’s new Prime Minister.
President Emmanuel Macron appointed Jean Castex (pictured) after Edouard Philippe, who has been a part of the Macron Government since 2017, resigned.
Mr Castex (55) hails from the centre-right of French politics and served for two years as the second-highest-ranking official in the Elysee Palace during Nicolas Sarkozy’s presidency.
An Elysee official described Mr Castex as a senior Public Servant whose experience in local politics would help Mr Macron connect with provincial France.
Mr Macron is reshaping his Government as France grapples with the deepest economic depression since World War II, a sharp downturn that will shrink the economy by about 11 per cent in 2020 and reverse hard-fought gains on unemployment.
Mr Macron said he was seeking a new path to rebuild the country for the two remaining years of his term.
Mr Castex is currently the centre-right Mayor of Prades, a village in the Pyrenees. Almost nobody, except presumably the inhabitants of Prades, has ever heard of him.
At first glance, Mr Castex is a carbon-copy of his predecessor.
Like Mr Philippe, he attended the elite Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA), and joined the top layer of the French Public Service.
Also like Mr Philippe, he hails from the centre-right Republicans Party.
Paris, 6 July 2020
