Et is the second time in the history of the French Republic that a woman is in charge of government. President Emmanuel Macron appointed the 61-year-old former Labor and Social Affairs Minister Elisabeth Borne as Prime Minister on Monday. Her predecessor Edith Cresson, who stayed in office for only eleven months in 1991, wished her a lot of “courage”. Borne headed the Environment Ministry right after the yellow vest protests from July 2019 to July 2020. It calmed the waves of protest caused by the ill-prepared eco-tax on fuel. As Transport Minister, she had already proven that she was able to withstand challenges.
It was they who, against the resistance of the trade unions, abolished the privileges of the railway workers of the state railway company SNCF, in particular the advantageous retirement regulations. She thus seems steeled for Macron’s plan to gradually raise the retirement age from 62 to 65. Union leaders dubbed them “Calamity Borne” during the strike period. But the woman, who is considered to be rather dry, has never cared about defamation.
Credits her rise to the French gifted education system
The engineer graduated from two elite forges, Ecole polytechnique and Ponts et Chaussées. Having initially worked for Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin and Socialist Environment Minister Ségolène Royal, she is considered a Social Democrat, even though she never had a Socialist party membership. The former head of the public transport company RATP (2015-2017) in Paris promoted “green issues” early on and advocated a “mobility turnaround” in order to meet climate targets and improve environmental protection.
Borne owes her advancement to the French talent support system. She grew up in Paris as an orphan. Her mother, who came from Normandy, worked as a pharmacist. Her father, a Russian-Jewish resistance fighter, only survived the deportation with serious health problems and died when she was eleven years old. Borne attracted attention with her outstanding knowledge of mathematics.
Borne is considered a workhorse
The top civil servant also gained corporate experience at SNCF and the construction company Eiffage. Between 2008 and 2013 she worked as urbanism director at the Paris City Hall, later becoming prefect of the Poitou-Charentes region. Borne is considered a workhorse. She sends her first correspondence at six in the morning and the last just after midnight. The divorced mother of one son had not tried to change her image as a dry bureaucrat.
But now she is supposed to lead the presidential movement in the campaign for the parliamentary elections on June 12th and 19th. She is expected to have a talent for speaking. Many French people hardly knew her until now. That could change quickly now. Borne will hardly find time for her favorite pastime, long hikes through the deserts of Morocco or Jordan. She is already used to dry spells.