Name: Macron replaces French prime minister Edouard Philippe in major reshuffle
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Macron replaces French prime minister Edouard Philippe in major reshuffle

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President Emmanuel Macron replaced his prime minister on Friday in the first stage of a high-stakes government reshuffle aimed at relaunching his troubled&nbsp;presidency for the final two years of his term.Jean Castex, the conservative mayor of the small southern town of Prades, succeeded Édouard Philippe, also a conservative.Mr Philippe, 49, whose adroit handling of the coronavirus epidemic made him is seen by some as a possible rival to Mr Macron in the 2022 presidential election.The reshuffle comes after a wave of Green local election victories humiliated Mr Macron’s centrist party last weekend, although it was planned before the vote.&nbsp;However, ousting Mr Philippe, one of the most popular members of his government, is a big gamble for the unpopular president.Mr Castex, 55, a low-profile former civil servant seen as more compliant than Mr Philippe and less likely to upstage the president, coordinated France’s exit from lockdown and is known as Monsieur Déconfinement.&nbsp;Like Mr Philippe, Mr Castex is a former member of the opposition centre-Right party, The Republicans, but unlike his predecessor he is said to be planning to join the president’s centrist party, the Republic on the Move.&nbsp;However, ousting Mr Philippe, one of the most popular members of his government, is a big gamble for the unpopular president.Mr Castex, who is close to the former conservative president Nicolas Sarkozy, will form a new government by Wednesday, the president’s office said. Many ministers are expected to be replaced, including Christophe Castaner, the interior minister criticised for failing to quell “yellow-vest” anti-government protests in 2018 and 2019.After Greens won control of French cities including Lyon and Bordeaux last weekend, , but his party’s election defeats made a reshuffle imperative.“We have to chart a new course,” he said in an interview with regional newspapers on Thursday. “The return to work will be very difficult.” &nbsp;After dismissing Mr Philippe, who was elected mayor of Le Havre last weekend, Mr Macron asked him to head efforts to form a coalition of centrist and centre-right parties for the parliamentary elections that will follow the presidential vote in 2022.Along with Mr Castex’s appointment, the move was seen as signalling that Mr Macron’s strategy will hinge on winning centre-Right support. His Republic on the Move party lost its absolute parliamentary majority in May because of the defection of Left-wing MPs to a Green-Leftist group. He will need conservative support to beat the far-Right leader Marine Le Pen, expected to be his main presidential opponent in 2022.The Greens’ leader, Julien Bayou, criticised the appointment of Mr Castex. “A man of the Right replaces a man of the Right, who we’ve never heard talk about the environment. The president wants to be the only one visible,” he tweeted.During the coronavirus crisis, while Mr Macron’s fell. The president’s approval rating was 44 per cent, according to a poll last week, while Mr Philippe’s jumped 13 points since the outbreak of Covid-19 to 51 per cent.The president and Mr Philippe had disagreed over France’s reopening, with the prime minister reluctant to lift the lockdown as speedily as Mr Macron wanted. Earlier they had fallen out over fuel tax rises, whichWhen the government’s controversial pension reform plans triggered widespread strikes and protests before the coronavirus crisis, Mr Philippe insisted on raising the age of eligibility for a full pension to 64, a fiercely contested move on which Mr Macron has showed more flexibility.Mr Macron’s pro-business economic reforms, which critics said favoured the wealthy, were impeded by the yellow-vest movement and have now been put on hold because of the coronavirus crisis. Thousands of jobs are now being cut.After a formal handover at the prime minister’s office in the imposing 18th century Matignon mansion on the Left Bank, Mr Castex said the government was entering “a new phase”.&nbsp;“The economic and social crisis is already there. Priorities must evolve, methods must change.”Standing alongside Mr Castex on the steps of the mansion, Mr Philippe paid tribute to the president, saying they had “worked together in confidence”.“I have no doubt that you will be capable of taking the right decisions,” Mr Philippe told his successor.In an unrelated development, France’s public prosecutor opened an investigation into allegations that Mr Philippe, Olivier Véran, the health minister, and his predecessor Agnès Buzyn mishandled the Covid-19 epidemic.The inquiry, in response to legal complaints filed by members of the public, is expected to be lengthy. In theory, the ministers risk two years in prison and a €30,000 fine if charged and convicted of failing to take action to combat a public danger.France was seen as more successful than the UK in fighting the epidemic, but the public was upset that Germany handled it better, with fewer deaths, while France spends more of its GDP on health. Mr Philippe gained popularity for implementing a massive economic recovery plan, but Mr Macron was blamed for a lack of face-masks and tests. The president is immune from prosecution.&nbsp;Related TopicsThe Telegraph values your comments but kindly requests all posts are on topic, constructive and respectful. Please review our.You need to be a subscriber to join the conversation. Find out more.Show commentsAdvertisementRelated TopicsWe rely on advertising to help fund our award-winning journalism.We urge you to turn off your ad blocker for The Telegraph website so that you can continue to access our quality content in the future.Thank you for your support.Need help?Visit ourpage.Close

President Emmanuel Macron replaced his prime minister on Friday in the first stage of a high-stakes government reshuffle aimed at relaunching his troubled&nbsp;presidency for the final two years of his term.Jean Castex, the conservative mayor of the small southern town of Prades, succeeded Édouard Philippe, also a conservative.Mr Philippe, 49, whose adroit handling of the coronavirus epidemic made him is seen by some as a possible rival to Mr Macron in the 2022 presidential election.The reshuffle comes after a wave of Green local election victories humiliated Mr Macron’s centrist party last...

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By David Chazan

David Chazan

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Macron replaces French prime minister Edouard Philippe in major reshuffle

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