CASTEX. Jean Castex will therefore be replaced by Elisabeth Borne as Prime Minister, the handover will take place at the end of the day, around 7 p.m.
[Mis à jour le 16 mai 2022 à 19h10] It is therefore official, this Monday, May 16, Jean Castex has submitted his resignation to Emmanuel Macron and is leaving the Hôtel de Matignon as Prime Minister. He is replaced by Elisabeth Borne, former Minister of Transport. The Élysée announced it in a press release. For Emmanuel Macron, this resignation of Jean Castex launches the ministerial reshuffle; by first thanking his collaborator at the head of the executive then by announcing the name of his replacement.
The transfer of power between Jean Castex and Elisabeth Borne should take place this Monday evening, around 7 p.m. at Matignon for a solemn taking office and invested with a marked ceremonial, to give a little scope to this change of head of government. In reality, the resignation of Jean Castex has already been politically recorded for weeks, he had indicated that he would leave Matignon quickly after the re-election of the head of state and had therefore already launched a new sequence for the executive. Emmanuel Macron therefore governed for three weeks with a departing Prime Minister, already one foot out.
Once the new Prime Minister has been appointed, the President of the Republic will no doubt take a few extra hours to communicate the list of new ministers; it is even likely that the composition of the new government will not be known until Tuesday or Wednesday.
Having resigned, Jean Castex will have to be replaced as Prime Minister. For several days, this is the great reflection in which Emmanuel Macron has truly engaged. While the Head of State undoubtedly had several names already in mind even before the outcome of the presidential election, the scores posted in the 1st and 2nd rounds by his adversaries were able to reshuffle the cards, the President of the Republic seeking to appoint a personality with a profile capable of carrying out the major reforms he wishes to undertake for the next five-year term, while being “attached to social, environmental and productive issues” and “directly responsible for ecological planning .”
The list of contenders for Matignon is growing day by day, but a trend still seems to emerge: it is more women who are regularly cited to take over from Jean Castex. The name that comes up the most to take the head of the government is that of Elisabeth Borne, current Minister of Labour. But other hypotheses are mentioned, such as the appointment of Audrey Azoulay, current director general of Unesco and former Minister of Culture, that of Marisol Touraine or even Valérie Létard.
A cut, far from Matignon
At Le Parisien, the future ex-Prime Minister indicated that he intended to cut with the environment and the pressure so singular in the exercise of power. “We’re at the end of a cycle, no one owns their load. I just hope I’m better coming out than coming in. […] I’m going to go back to my Pyrenees, I have to repaint my shutters and my railing which took a hit for two years”, he told the newspaper, which indicated on Sunday that his departure would take place in “a few hours”.
The Prime Minister has already warned all the ministers, he organized a last dinner at Matignon on Thursday May 12. A real starting drink with a speech of thanks, a festive meal and a gift from his almost complete government team, Jean-Yves Le Drian and Clément Beaune being the only ones missing. The jersey of the XV of France, autographed by his colleagues, symbolizes this very end of mandate, Jean Castex having declared “For my part the adventure ends”. The warm farewell messages followed one another on the ministers’ Twitter accounts, from Gabriel Attal, the spokesperson for the LREM camp who wrote “An honor and a pleasure to have served France with Jean Castex”, to Olivia Grégoire, the Secretary of State in charge of the Social, Solidarity and Responsible Economy who felt that he had given her “a rare lesson”, at the height of “man”. After a mandate rich in “trials” (comments reported by The Parisian), the Prime Minister was indeed living his last week in his function as head of government, after two weeks of rab carried out at the request of Emmanuel Macron.
Should we expect him to try to run for other terms? The answer is no. A definitive no: Jean Castex will pack his bags, fill his boxes and have them delivered elsewhere than to his home. Because while he was expected to land a new ministry (Justice or National Education), the Prime Minister will indeed leave the government and will not be present in the future organization chart, as announced France info. Direction the holidays for the former “Mr. Déconfinement”, tested by the function. Jean Castex should not occupy a new leading political function, he who refused to run for the legislative elections as well as for the senatorial elections of 2023, as advanced France info. In the short term, as soon as his or her successor is appointed, he will take a break… For Emmanuel Macron’s right-hand man, a vacation is essential.