Macron Names Center-Right Mayor Edouard Philippe Prime Minister

by Dramelin 7:00 AM 0 comments

Edouard Philippe, the center-right mayor of the port city of Le Havre, was named France’s new prime minister, charged with putting into action the economic reforms of the newly inaugurated President Emmanuel Macron.
The first major announcement of Macron’s 24-hour-old presidency was made by Alexis Kohler, the president’s chief of staff.
Philippe will now be tasked with selecting his ministers ahead of the first cabinet meeting Wednesday.
The 46-year-old Philippe is a member of the Republicans party and initially supported Alain Juppe in the French presidential campaign.
By picking Philippe, Macron, a former minister in Socialist Francois Hollande’s government, is looking to broaden his appeal ahead of the legislative elections in June.
Macron needs a majority or at least enough seats in parliament to govern or form a coalition.
Without that, he could find himself a figurehead from the get-go, incapable of putting into action his campaign promises of economic modernization.
Having already split the Socialist Party with his run for the presidency, Macron’s act of luring one of the leading young lights of the centrist wing of the Republicans now threatens to splinter that party as well.
Since 2010, Philippe has been mayor of Le Havre, France’s second-largest port, which was a longtime communist stronghold before drifting to the center-right as its economy diversified.
Like Macron, he’s a graduate of France’s elite ENA, the National School of Administration.
June Elections Philippe campaigned for the Socialist Party during his student years.
He has alternated between being an elected official, adviser to various ministers, working as a lawyer, and as the head of public affairs for state-controlled energy company Areva.
Whether Philippe’s government can last beyond a few months depends on whether Macron’s nascent political movement can win a majority in the June 11 and 18 parliamentary elections or at least take enough seats to lead a coalition.
If a rival political formation takes command of parliament, it can vote out the government and impose a new one.
Macron is the first French president in the modern era to be elected without the support of France’s two main political movements, the Socialists and the Gaullists, now called The Republicans.
He defeated the National Front’s Marine Le Pen by 66 to 34 percent in the May 7 runoff after the most divisive and tumultuous election in the past half a century, and he’s promised to remodel French politics to go beyond what he’s said is a sterile divide between left and right.
Macron and his new prime minister face major challenges.
While multiple surveys show business confidence is at its highest level since 2011, they inherit an economy that has lagged behind the euro-area average for the past three years.
France’s unemployment rate remains stuck at 10 percent, roughly double the level in the U.
And France is still officially under emergency rule after a string of terror attacks since 2015.
Springsteen Fan Macron has said the first task for his government will be to pass a series of “political moralization” laws to ban lawmakers from hiring family members and limiting what remunerated activities they can do on the side.
Over the summer, he wants his government to start tackling a liberalization of France’s labor code and propose tax cuts.
According to French press reports, Philippe is an aficionado of Bruce Springsteen, his favorite actor is Sean Connery, and he’s a fan of the “Godfather” movies.