Who will succeed Jean Castex at Matignon? If Elisabeth Borne, current Minister of Labour, ticks all the boxes, a surprise is possible. Overview.
Let’s be humble. We had not considered for a single second the appointment of Edouard Philippe as Prime Minister in May 2017, so we will have to take the following list of suitors with the usual tweezers.
The darling of Macronie: Julien Denormandie
The current Minister of Agriculture and Food has the profile of the ideal candidate if Emmanuel Macron wants to make an impression on his green shift between the two rounds. Engineer of bridges, water and forests, former deputy chief of staff of the President of the Republic when the latter was the Minister of Economy of the Valls government, he is in the small papers of Alexis Kohler, the current Secretary General of the Elysee. His main flaw is to have – like Emmanuel Macron before 2017 – no past as an elected representative of the Republic
Favorite: Elisabeth Borne
Bosseuse, personality rather anchored on the left who worked with Ségolène Royal at the Ministry of Ecology from 2014 to 2015, who exercised as prefect and was the president of the RATP from 2015 to 2017, Elisabeth Borne ticks all the boxes. Better still, she was sent to the front on Sunday evening on television sets while the other ministers celebrated the re-election of Emmanuel Macron at the Champ-de-Mars in Paris. Not just a coincidence…
Read also: Elisabeth Borne Prime Minister? Emmanuel Macron’s smile
The technocrat: Olivier Dussopt
Minister Delegate to the Minister of Economy, Finance and Recovery, in charge of Public Accounts, he is the founder of the micro-party Territory of Progress which represents the left wing of Macronie. Former PS mayor of Annonay, he knows the electoral battles well for having been elected deputy for the 2nd district of Ardèche from 2007 to December 2017. In 2017, he even beat an LREM candidate… His main handicap? To be targeted by an investigation by the national financial prosecutor’s office for a case of illegal taking of interests which dates back to January 2017 when he was mayor of Annonay.
Marshal: Richard Ferrand
No need to introduce Richard Ferrand, Emmanuel Macron’s early companion, strong personality and current President of the National Assembly. His name had been cited a lot in May 2017, before the post returned to Edouard Philippe. Holding the National Assembly could be a difficult mission in the event of a relative majority after the legislative elections, so Emmanuel Macron will always need him at the Palais Bourbon.
Alternative tracks
Sometimes quoted by the press, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet and Christine Lagarde should not be Prime Minister of Macron II, nor even appear in the next government. On the other hand, the former minister of Jacques Chirac Catherine Vautrin could be propelled into full light. Present at the Nanterre meeting, the current president of Greater Reims had been one of the spokespersons for Nicolas Sarkozy’s campaign for the Republican primaries in 2016. Some left-wing mayors could also be seduced by Macronist sirens : the names of Michaël Delafosse, mayor of Montpellier and Mathieu Klein, mayor of Nancy circulate, as well as that of the various right mayor of Beauvais Caroline Cayeux. From there to becoming head of government, the step seems too high.