Paris (AFP)
Jean Castex will be "a prime minister of the highest order", estimated Sunday François Bayrou, president of MoDem, ally of the majority, pleading for a government "competent" and "solid" in the face of the deep economic crisis to come.
The ex-minister, now mayor of Pau, said he "absolutely disagreed" with those who saw in the choice of Mr. Castex "a reduction in the role of the Prime Minister" or even the will of Emmanuel Macron "to occupy all the space" or "to fulfill all functions with the sole idea of re-election".
"All of this is completely false" and "I even believe that it is exactly the opposite", he assured in the Grand Rendez-vous Europe 1 / Cnews / Les Echos.
"Jean Castex will be a prime minister of the highest order" because "two things occupy the mind of the President of the Republic: the contract of trust with the French", and "the gravity of the coming crisis", which "imposes a gathering of forces and a new impulse. "
To those who see only in this appointment the replacement of a Prime Minister from the right by a Prime Minister from the right, Mr. Bayrou called to "get out of this absurd reading grid" of the right / left divide.
He praised the "experience" of Jean Castex, "a man of the field, a backpacker, who has wandered in all areas of French society", and his ability to "bridge" between "the State, the circles of power, and French society ".
The commune of Prades (Pyrénées-Orientales), of which he is mayor, "far from Paris", "it is exactly France, a France completely forgotten".
While the announcement of the composition of the government is imminent, the boss of the MoDem judges that "all sensitivities" must be present, and that this government will have to combine "consistency and competence", and show "solidity in the face of wave coming, "he added of the economic crisis.
In terms of ecology, do we need a "Deputy Prime Minister" in charge of this subject? Ecology is "not a separate issue" and is "a common factor that must inform the decisions to be made," he said.
Asked also about the Prime Minister's desire to settle the explosive pension file "in the short term", François Bayrou slips that "if a reform is just, well prepared", and "understandable", "a government can lead the French to follow him".
© 2020 AFP