Monday May 16, 2022, at 6:19 p.m., a pithy press release from the Élysée Palace reveals the name of Elisabeth Borne to take over from Jean Castex at Matignon, ending several weeks of speculation.

The next minute, glowing comments and harsh criticism multiplied against the new Prime Minister on social networks and in the media.

"Technocrat", "cold", "polytechnician", "inflexible": the political leaders of the opposition did not miss the opportunity to shoot a few arrows in the direction of the new recruit from the rue de Varenne, targeting the Élysée at the same time.

>> To read also: "The tops and flops of Emmanuel Macron's ministers"

In the little game of murderous phrases, it is the Communist Party that we draw the fastest.

"Privatization and competition between the SNCF and the RATP, reform of unemployment insurance to the detriment of more than a million beneficiaries, gravedigger of Fessenheim: with Élisabeth Borne, Macron has found his Mrs. Thatcher. Technocracy at the money service king", said on Twitter Fabien Roussel, PCF deputy from the North and former presidential candidate.

Followed closely by the Insoumis.

"Élisabeth Borne in Matignon: on the march for an unlimited social war", loose Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the boss of the New popular ecological and social union (Nupes), also on Twitter.

“It is not the CV and the distant commitments of Madame Borne that characterize her politically?”, laughs for his part Adrien Quatennens, deputy of La France insoumise.

"It is his record as minister and his intentions displayed alongside Emmanuel Macron: that is to say retirement at 65 and the RSA under conditions."

A new season of social and ecological mistreatment begins.

Elisabeth Borne embodies the continuity of the policy of the President of the Republic.

She is one of the toughest figures in macronist social abuse.#Matignon #PremierMinistre pic.twitter.com/Ew7prR9kEa

— Jean-Luc Melenchon (@JLMelenchon) May 16, 2022

A woman, yes, but...

Unsurprisingly, Olivier Faure, first secretary of the Socialist Party, is just as critical.

"Positive point, a woman [Prime Minister]. For the rest... Appointment of the Minister of Transport who dismantled the public rail service, of Ecology condemned for climate inaction, of Labor who despoiled the unemployed with the reform unemployment insurance. #BorneOut", he criticizes on Twitter.

More nuanced, Julien Bayou, national secretary of Europe Ecology-The Greens (EELV), believes, in a press release, that environmentalists can "only rejoice to see, for the second time in the history of the Fifth Republic, a woman access to Matignon".

But "Élisabeth Borne, whether as Minister of Ecology or Minister of Transport, has failed to put France on the path necessary to respect the Paris agreement. She shares, with others, the responsibility for these five years lost for the climate" and, "as Minister of Labor, she perpetuated a brutal policy towards the most vulnerable people in the country".

Elisabeth Borne's record in terms of social issues is the record of a right-wing woman.

And she is now prime minister of a right-wing president.



On unemployment insurance: no one is mistaken.

On pensions: no one is mistaken.

The solution: #NUPES #le79inter pic.twitter.com/UJPRFlv5uM

— Julien Bayou (@julienbayou) May 17, 2022

Surprisingly, it is from the right-wing president of the Île-de-France region, Valérie Pécresse, that comes the most benevolent message towards the left-wing woman.

The former Les Républicains (LR) presidential candidate sent her "all [s]republican congratulations" on Twitter, adding that Élisabeth Borne "unquestionably has the commitment course necessary to become the second woman Prime Minister of our country. I wish him the best for France."

Congratulations Republican to @Elisabeth_Borne.

She undeniably has the necessary commitment to become the second female Prime Minister of our country.

I wish him the best for France.

— Valérie Pécresse (@vpecresse) May 16, 2022

"Change everything to change nothing"

The new head of government can also count on LR defectors who have passed through Macronie for support.

On Twitter, Christian Estrosi, mayor of Nice, assures that "Élisabeth Borne's great knowledge of the territories will be invaluable to the conduct of the affairs of our country. In her previous responsibilities and in her five years in government, she was able to show herself very attentive to local elected officials. I wish him every success."

Renaud Muselier, president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, also thinks that "the appointment of Elisabeth Borne at Matignon is excellent news for France. For five years, on the themes of transport, the environment like employment, I was able to measure his competence and his commitment to France."

I welcome the appointment of @Elisabeth_Borne at Matignon by @EmmanuelMacron.

A woman of action who has been at the service of the 🇫🇷 on essential files.

Her experience will be invaluable after the ambitious reforms she has accompanied on transport, ecology and work

— Christian Estrosi (@cestrosi) May 16, 2022

Christian Jacob, boss of LR, is more incisive.

"Change everything to change nothing. Three weeks of dithering and small arrangements, without vision or perspective. With the appointment of Elisabeth Borne, we leave with the same."

And Nadine Morano, MEP LR, to follow suit: "On the left, under orders, and no shadow to the president ... the ideal profile."

"She listens but she doesn't hear"

On the far right, the disapproval is unanimous.

"2022 will therefore be the year of submission to the left", castigates the former presidential candidate of Reconquest!, Éric Zemmour.

"Macron appoints a left-wing Prime Minister to Matignon. Mélenchon unites the left. Le Pen flirts with the left. LR submits to the left. Only Reconquête! resists and assumes to be the great popular right-wing movement."

Florian Philippot, boss of the Patriots, is already calling for resistance: "The health pass in business and the possibility of dismissing the 'recalcitrant'! We will have to be ultravigilant and mobilized!"

Whether the #PrimeMinister is a man or a woman, it doesn't matter: only competence counts.



Emmanuel Macron once again appoints a technocratic Prime Minister to have control of everything.

#ZemmourRTL #RTLMatin

— Eric Zemmour (@ZemmourEric) May 17, 2022

No more complacency to be expected from the unions.

The new Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne "has a record which is very negative", judges the secretary general of the CGT, Philippe Martinez, while welcoming "the fact of giving women their full place" in political life.

On the method, "she listens but she does not hear, she is like Mr. Macron", he adds.

"It was she who changed unemployment insurance", and "she has always refused to give a boost to the Smic", he lists again, before concluding: "We can come from the left and have reactions and liberal positions, like Manuel Valls or Élisabeth Borne."

Same skepticism from non-governmental organizations.

"Whether in the context of the law on the orientation of mobility, which turned out to be disappointing, the climate-energy law where it pushed back by ten years the period granted for the reduction of nuclear power in the energy mix, or even her (vain) commitment to 'implement' the 146 measures which were not challenged by the president himself, Élisabeth Borne did not shine with strong and ambitious positions on ecology. therefore bodes little hope of seeing France make its ecological transition as the climate emergency nevertheless obliges it to do,” said Jean-François Julliard, director general of Greenpeace France, in a press release.

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