We have never been so close, but it is true that it lasts. Almost three weeks since Emmanuel Macron was re-elected and Jean Castex is still in place. It’s a bit like in the past, those music hall stars whose farewell tours never ended. Except that this time, the crooner, Jean Castex, would dream of having already left. The boxes have been made for a long time. But Emmanuel Macron still fails to find him a successor. He went in search of a woman, for the moment still in vain. So he makes the torture last.
For his personal and political comfort, Emmanuel Macron had first thought of keeping him in office until the legislative elections. It was never a question for Jean Castex, who had warned him even before the presidential election. Since then, he has also confirmed to him that he does not want to remain in the government in another position, or even to run for the legislative elections, Jean Castex wants to cut with all that and take off.
All in all he is rather relieved to go out “alive” of this ordeal, in the words of a pillar of the majority. Matignon is a washerwoman and Jean Castex had to steer the government in the terrible context of the pandemic. He left office without breaking the unpopularity records of some of his predecessors.
You could say that. We remember Nicolas Sarkozy calling François Fillon a “collaborater”. He had not endured such humiliation. Jean Castex wanted to prove that at Matignon, we can be a happy collaborator. A team leader, a facilitator, but beware, not the majority leader. That is the job of the president, even more so since the establishment of the five-year term which has concentrated all the power even more at the Elysée.
The Prime Minister must be devoted to him, know how to step aside, even sacrifice himself for the benefit of his superior. Michel Rocard, Edouard Balladur, Dominique de Villepin, François Fillon or Manuel Valls: it is long, very long, the list of ambitious Prime Ministers who left Matignon in pieces because they thought too much about the Elysée. Jean Castex did not run this risk. He saw himself in charge of a mission of limited duration. And he no longer has any other ambition than a family vacation.
Courage, it’s a matter of a few hours, two or three days at most, soon the keel!