In France, where not a single female president has been elected to date, a female politician sat on the prime minister’s seat for the second time in 30 years. President Emmanuel Macron has appointed Labor Minister Elisabeth Borne as Prime Minister.
No female politician has been appointed to this post since Edith Cresson, who was appointed by former socialist President François Mitterrand and served as president for a short time from May 1991 to April 1992.
Elisabeth Borne, 61, who graduated from Polytechnique, France’s most prestigious engineering school, was made Minister of Transport in 2017, then Minister of Environment and Ecological Transition, and Minister of Labor in the last government.
President Macron chose Borne, a more “background technocrat” who could guarantee the functioning of the cabinet, instead of “a powerful and mediatic elected official from the grassroots”.
This appointment made by Macron 22 days after the Presidential election is not a surprise. Labor Minister Borne became the first person to be named prime minister shortly after his election victory. Ever since Macron said he wanted a “female prime minister”, her name has been spoken backstage the most.
Although the name of Catherine Vautrin from the Republicans (LR) was mentioned until the last moment, when a right-wing name was objected to from within the party, Borne, who fulfilled all the criteria Macron sought, became the prime minister.
Borne, who is separated from his wife and mother of a child, said, “I dedicate this duty to all the little girls of my country, so that they can go all the way in their dreams.”
Elisabeth Borne, a long-time prime minister, finally took the post, not surprisingly. Considered to be “too technocratic, not political enough, and too cold” for the role of prime minister, Borne was interpreted as “out of luck” because his name was circulating too much backstage.
Elisabeth Borne, who lost her father at the age of 11 and raised by her pharmacist mother alone, worked as a manager in many companies, including the State Railways. Borne, who entered politics in the cabinet of the socialist former Prime Minister of France, Lionel Jospin, served as the cabinet director of former Environment Minister Segolene Royal.
Elisabeth Borne is defined on the “left wing” of the ruling party LAREM, but she draws the reaction of the unions and left parties because she defended the reform that increased the retirement age to 65, which Macron wanted to bring quickly when she was Minister of Labor. Borne signals that this sensitive reform will pass under his own prime ministership, with the words “We want our neighbors to work less and have a better social security shield than them. This is not possible. This reform must pass.”
Elisabeth Borne is the ideal name President Macron has sought for the country shaken by crises. While Macron is careful not to upset the moderate right, on the other hand, he is trying to expand his voter base towards the left, which is likely to come first in the parliamentary elections. Coming from the left, but supporting Macron’s policies, Borne stands out as “a name that can convince the left without scaring the right”.
“Miss Borne-out”
Evaluated as “loyal, secretive, efficient and meticulous” just like the previous Prime Minister Jean Castex, Elisabeth Borne is a name respected by the ruling party. In particular, the Railways agency won Macron’s trust by leading the reform of the SNCF and resisting the unions. The workaholic Prime Minister, who works day and night, on weekends, without holidays, and who is known for “dominating all his subjects” and working his team until midnight, was given the nickname “Mrs. Borne-out” by his team.
However, the biggest shortcoming of the new Prime Minister is that he has not been a candidate in any election during his entire career. Before the parliamentary elections, Macron took a real risk by appointing a man with no electoral experience as Prime Minister. As soon as he took office, Borne announced that he would make up for this shortcoming as a candidate from his hometown Calvados in the parliamentary elections to be held on 12-19 June. If he doesn’t win these elections, Borne’s term as prime minister may be shorter than the first female Prime Minister, Edith Cresson.
“Plan B”
The French media even called Borne “Plan B” as soon as he was elected. French media, which argues that Borne’s arrival is “risky but unexciting”, is suspicious of Elysee’s statement that “The President had put Elisabeth Borne on his mind the night he was elected”. Le Monde newspaper attributes Macron’s three-week wait to reveal the name of the prime minister, as well-known female politicians such as “Véronique Bedague, Valerie Rabault, Catherine Vautrin” rejected this proposal.
Christian Jacob, Chairman of the main opposition Republican Party (LR), said, “They seem to have changed everything in order not to change anything. They have determined a new name that will continue the old system with a three-week postponement and minor adjustments without a vision or perspective.”
The far-right parties, which emphasized his leftist past due to his departure from the Socialist Party, also criticized that “Macron appointed a leftist name to send a message to the left voters who came out strong in the ballot box”.
However, all left parties, from the radical left to the Greens, expressed that Elisabeth Borne “has nothing to do with the left. Radical leftist leader Jean Luc Melenchon said, “Elisabeth Borne is a caricature of Macron’s liberal policies.”
Left parties argue that Borne, who advocates reforms such as “reducing the benefits of one million unemployed people, removing regulated gas prices, postponing the termination of nuclear power for 10 years, opening the public railways to competition, increasing the retirement age to 65”, is “definitely not a leftist”.
Challenging reforms await
Prime Minister Borne, who came to a difficult task in France, which showed a divided picture in the Presidential elections and tried to overcome the pandemic and post-war crises, together with his new cabinet, a new roadmap that includes many different steps from ecology to purchasing power and full employment and pension reform. will also present. He will then appear before the voters for the first time in the parliamentary elections in June.