French President Emmanuel Macron has picked centre-right mayor of the northern port city of Le Harve, Edouard Philippe (46), as his Prime Minister. The appointment of Mr. Philippe, a moderate from France’s mainstream right-wing party Les Republicains, is seen as a strategic move that could secure the support Mr. Macron needs to win a majority in the 577-seat National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament, which goes to the polls next month.
This is the first time in the history of the Fifth Republic that a President has appointed someone from outside his own party without being explicitly required to do so by a parliamentary vote. Mr. Macron, who was Economy Minister in the Socialist government during 2014-16, already enjoys considerable support among former Socialists, including former Prime Minister Manuel Valls, against whom La Republique en Marche (REM), Mr. Macron’s movement, is not fielding a candidate in the assembly elections. Additionally, all current MPs whom the REM has so far given tickets to are drawn from the Socialist party.
The French Prime Minister is required to have the support of the majority of MPs in its National Assembly and Mr. Philippe’s appointment is being seen as the President reaching out to the right – a move that could help his party push reforms through Parliament.
Mr. Macron was elected on a platform that promised reforms to labour and social security laws, training for workers, and relaunching the European Union.
Trained as a lawyer, Mr. Philippe has worked in the private sector, including for French nuclear giant Areva and an American law firm. Mr. Philippe’s early political leanings were with the Socialist Party, but later he came to be associated with former President Jacques Chirac and former centre-right Prime Minister Alain Juppe’s Union for a Popular Movement. Mr. Juppe, also a presidential hopeful, lost the Les Republicains primaries in 2016.
Melenchon slams move
The leader of the far-left movement La France Insoumise (France Unbowed), Jean-Luc Melenchon, criticised Mr. Macron’s choice, saying: “The new President has taken over the command of all the traditional political class of our country... the right has just been annexed by the appointment of Edouard Philippe.”
Mr. Melenchon, who got knocked out of the first round of the presidential elections, had refused to explicitly endorse Mr. Macron against far-right candidate Marine Le Pen for the second round of voting.
This was done partly to disrupt the closing of ranks between the mainstream left and right parties that was expected to and did occur when the far right candidate made it past the first round.
