White smoke at the New Popular Front. The alliance of left-wing parties agreed on Tuesday, July 23, to propose to the President of the Republic the name of Lucie Castets, a senior civil servant committed to defending public services, for the post of Prime Minister. The latter told AFP that she had accepted “in all humility but with great conviction”, considering herself to be a “credible and serious” candidate for Matignon.
The surprise candidate of the New Popular Front, aged 37 and from civil society, declared that among her “major priorities” was the “repeal of the pension reform” of Emmanuel Macron, a “major tax reform so that everyone, individuals and multinationals, pays their fair share”, an “improvement in purchasing power” by revaluing salaries and raising social security benefits, as well as the “end of the regression of public services”.
An hour before Emmanuel Macron’s television interview and after 16 days of negotiations that nearly caused the left-wing union to implode, the partners of the New Popular Front finally managed to agree on a name. The NFP, which has been claiming the post of Prime Minister since it came out on top in the legislative elections, but without an absolute majority, believes that Lucie Castets will be “strong in our complete commitment to her side in the government that she will lead.”
Lucie Castets is unknown to the general public. Currently director of finance and purchasing for the city of Paris, she is one of the leading figures of the collective “Our Public Services”, resolutely opposed to the outgoing government’s policy for the civil service. “She has a remarkable professional career in the service of the State and local authorities, with strong commitments to tax justice and the fight against tax evasion”, underlines the co-founder of “Our Public Services” Arnaud Bontemps. “She is a person who is very committed to schools, hospitals, social justice”, he added. “She moves very quickly on sometimes very complex subjects, she is very human, close to people”, he assured.