Why is it so long? Because Jean Castex is not easy to replace. At Matignon since July 2020, this is all-risk insurance for Emmanuel Macron. A practical, comfortable Prime Minister. It does not overshadow the head of state. He is devoted to him, faithful, loyal, much more than his predecessor Edouard Philippe. He is also a hard-working, hard-working team leader, capable of acting as lightning rods in the storm, as we saw during the Covid-19.
With his local elected profile, his accent, his joviality, his style completes the techno side and strong theme of the president. Finally, Jean Castex comes from a moderate right, a pedigree which has helped to consolidate the majority for two years. To the surprise of many walkers, Jean Castex has somewhat reinvented, in the shadows, the function of Prime Minister. He gave the post a usefulness, relative, in period of quinquennium.
He himself has only one hurry, it is to leave Matignon. To succeed him, Emmanuel Macron first looked for a tenant attached to the environmental issue, he will be directly responsible for ecological planning, but also for the social question, the urgency of purchasing power. is here. And preferably a woman. But none of the names that have circulated so far seem to really impose themselves. Nobody knows at the moment who will be appointed to Matignon.
What is more interesting is that this expectation reveals the political situation: should Emmanuel Macron draw rather on the left or rather on the right? “That’s the question”! A Shakespearean dilemma. The left has been at the center of concerns since the evening of the first round. On ecology or social issues, Emmanuel Macron has changed his speech to seek the voices of rebellious voters and get re-elected. And since then, the left has occupied the front of the political and media scene, with the OPA of Jean-Luc Mélenchon on the rest of the left.
In the polls, it is the extreme right and the right which clearly dominate. We saw it in the first round of the presidential election. 31% only for the addition of all the lefts. In this context, shouldn’t the president pick Jean Castex’s successor on the right?
Finally, there remains a final temptation, which is also a danger for Emmanuel Macron, that of saying that ultimately, it does not matter who the Matignon tenant is, it is he, and no one else, who will win the legislative elections alone. Or not.