Until the end, the Prime Minister shows his sense of the general interest. In the shadow of the Head of State, the former collaborator of Nicolas Sarkozy flourished in his function, where he tightened the bolts of small and large files.
Not gone yet, already regretted and not easy to replace! After a year and ten months at the Hôtel de Matignon, the Prime Minister is about to bow out to the cheers of Macronie. “Jean”, as it is called in the outgoing majority, is unanimous. To the point that many of them are still wondering if the easiest way would not be to keep Castex until the legislative elections. Emmanuel Macron and the person concerned agreed that a new head of government should be appointed to start the second term. And therefore find a successor to “Jean”. Christophe Castaner does not hesitate to evoke a “feminine Castex”.
Read also: Elisabeth Borne, Prime Minister? “That’s not the point. The important thing is to support Emmanuel Macron’s project”
It must be said that “Jean” will have done the job. After a skeptical reception including in the ranks of the majority, the ex-mayor LR de Prades silenced the critics and knew how to impose his good nature and his know-how. A man of dialogue, he reconnected with social partners and local elected officials. “He gave a lot with an energy that amazes me,” notes Richard Ferrand, the President of the National Assembly.
What will Jean Castex do? He refuses to talk about the “after”, including with his collaborators
His communicator, Mayada Boulos, has calculated that he has made 350 trips as Prime Minister, plus those devoted to the campaign. The whole often in the general indifference. Having become popular over time, Castex “kiffed” Matignon, according to an adviser. This workaholic did not feel the “hell” described by some of his predecessors at Matignon. “Castex is the reform of the Constitution that we did not see coming, that is to say the transfer of acts of governance to the Élysée. The Prime Minister is no longer anything but a HRD”, observes, vachard, a minister. “False, replied another, he rather redefined the criteria for the role of the Prime Minister in terms of complementarity in a five-year term.” Obviously, if Castex was not the most brilliant form of the heads of government of the 5th century, he restored, by his style and his great loyalty, efficiency to the function. With him, nothing leaked disputes with the president. Cautious, Castex had asked Macron to be able to see him alone before each defense council, to avoid spreading their differences during the health crisis. A way for him to learn from the growing disagreements between Édouard Philippe and the head of state.
What will Jean Castex do? He refuses to talk about the “after”, including with his collaborators. The Élysée would have approached him to find out if he would like to re-enter as Minister of Justice or Education. But the interested party would have declined. In the immediate future, this high official made arrangements to install his family in an apartment in Paris. His two youngest daughters are educated in Paris. Waits for him to pass “smoothly” the baton to the successor appointed by Emmanuel Macron. A continuity in the form of a first since 1965. To wait, he took it into his head to answer the many letters of thanks he received from the French.