Jean Castex, one year at Matignon under the sign of Covid-19
Prime Minister Jean Castex in front of the National Assembly, April 1, 2021. AP - Michel Euler
Text by: Julien Chavanne
3 min
His name was little known to the French.
Jean Castex arrived in Matignon a year ago.
On July 3, 2020, he took the place of the popular Édouard Philippe.
The mayor of the small town of Prades in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques was to embody the relaunch of the country after the Covid.
He was finally overtaken by the health crisis.
Back on her twelve months in the Matignon washing machine.
Publicity
Read more
His glasses and Southwestern accent have become familiar to the French.
Jean Castex will have made his proximity to rural France his trademark by making no less than 180 trips in one year.
Between the signing of agreements on the recovery plan, visits to police stations and meetings with young people from the Universal National Service, this rugby enthusiast has plowed the ground to make himself known and renew the link between Paris and the territories.
A divisive profile in government
"
Accessible, facilitator, benevolent, close to people
"
,
the Castex style seduces part of his government ... "
Things are going better than before
", greets a Secretary of State who remembers not having seen Édouard Philippe until 20 face to face minutes.
A Prime Minister "
who does the job, always ready to take bullets
", congratulates a framework of the majority.
"
Transparent, without political weight, without authority
" ... Other macronists do not spare the tenant of Matignon.
"
It is not because we have the accent that we represent the territories,
" tackles the adviser to a minister, disappointed by Jean Castex's half-time regional campaign.
More human than political
The agreement between En Marche and Les Républicains en Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur on the occasion of the regional elections is for the moment its only political weapon.
An initiative that set the right on fire.
The destabilization operation is successful, the mayors of Nice and Toulon have slammed the door of the Republicans, the outgoing president of the region Renaud Muselier has been re-elected, but Jean Castex has not drawn any personal benefit from it.
The one who was to embody appeasement after a year of Covid-19 found himself monopolized by the health crisis.
Without troops, without political support,
Jean Castex is still looking for his place
at the head of the majority.
The Prime Minister continues to suffer from the comparison with his predecessor who had been able to rely on the Agir party and on fellow travelers familiar with political life.
When Jean Castex will blow out his first candle at Matignon in a company in Corbeil-Essonnes, Édouard Philippe will be the hero of a documentary broadcast on Sunday evening on television.
Newsletter
Receive all international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Jean Castex
French politics
France