contents
Elisabeth Borne becomes France’s new prime minister. A woman had already announced President Macron before the presidential election. A woman who will pull the strings in climate policy. Elisabeth Borne also has the qualifications for this task: she has already served as Environment Minister for Macron.
Elisabeth Borne has been a member of all governments under President Macron for five years. First as Secretary of Labor. In 2019, after the political turmoil surrounding Environment Minister François de Rugy, she also took over his ministry. When Prime Minister Jean Castex took office, she moved to the Ministry of Labour.
Environmental and labor policies were hot topics even during Emmanuel Macron’s first term in office. Elisabeth Borne took over the two ministries from controversial predecessors and led them into calmer waters. She distinguished herself as President Macron’s wife for sensitive cases.
A technocrat
Elisabeth Borne fulfills a third promise made by Macron: After two prime ministers with a politically right-wing past, the “Première ministre” comes from the left. Before joining Emmanuel Macrcon, she was a member of the Socialist Party, was a member of the cabinet of President François Hollande and later head of the cabinet of Environment Minister Ségolène Royale. She knows government work from the administration and is more of a civil servant than a politician. It has something in common with its predecessor Jean Castex.
It also shows that President Emmanuel Macron looks to the prime minister first as a loyal administrator and not a politician who could cast a political shadow like his first prime minister Edouard Philippe did. However, this is not new; previous presidents have done the same thing – Charles de Gaulle and Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, for example.
Only Prime Minister for a time?
As a loyal comrade-in-arms of the President, Elisabeth Borne has been confirmed as Minister. She has already worked on the two most explosive dossiers: climate policy and pension reform.
But before that, she will have to confirm herself as Prime Minister in the political arena. She must secure a governing majority for Macron and his political alliance in the new parliament. Only then will it remain «Première ministre». This election poses a second hurdle for Elisabeht Borne: for the first time she is standing in a popular election and is running for a seat in the National Assembly. If she fails, she will also lose the government office. Elisabeth Borne is only “Première ministre” for the time being for 35 days.