A name is currently circulating as a possible recourse for 2027: the former Prime Minister Jean Castex. A guided hypothesis. Jean-Rémi Baudot’s political brief
“And why not ?!” : here is the answer given by a former collaborator of Jean Castex concerning a hypothetical candidacy of the former Prime Minister for the Élysée. Why not ? This is the question that arises, as this little music, which rises in certain articles, does not respond today to any political rationality.
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Jean Castex, 57, senior civil servant who became “Mr. deconfinement”, then Prime Minister. He is now boss of the RATP. Perhaps he has secret ambitions, but rather we ask who has an interest in lending him these ambitions? In politics, that is often the real question.
From Jean Castex, the French have kept the image of a man with a certain good nature thanks to a small accent which put a little balm on particularly restrictive Covid measures. But basically, Jean Castex remains a right-wing man, social Gaullist, placed in Matignon to pick up the pieces with the France of the territories. A guarantee that was useful to the President at the end of his first term. But politically, what does it weigh? Is “Castexism” a current of the majority? We know that he maintains ties with deputies, but today we cannot say that he has troops.
Jean Castex, from statesman to man of straw?
If his name is agitated, it is that some use it as a counter-fire to weaken other declared or supposed suitors. Who ? It is towards the Élysée that you should probably look. Emmanuel Macron’s entourage says more and more openly that they do not believe in the idea of an heir. Hence this strategy.
A counselor decrypts: “The Élysée does not have the power to create a candidacy, but it has the power to torpedo the others“. In the line of sight: Édouard Philippe, Gérald Darmanin, Bruno Le Maire. All of this obviously remains very gassy, but it highlights a political fact: if the current offer of potential candidates for 2027 was satisfactory, if someone stood out, this choice would naturally impose itself. Today, that is not the case. No one shines.
This is why in a few months, Jean Castex has gone from the status of a statesman to that of a straw man, used to blur the post-Macron era. The story does not say how this rugby fan relishes the idea of having become a trial balloon himself.