Macron continues his efforts to redraw the political map in France

Macron weakens historical French parties.

Reuters

French President Emmanuel Macron is drawing the outlines of his next government, a delicate process in the midst of a reshaping of the country's political landscape.

With legislative elections due in June, Macron is giving the first indications.

He appointed a prime minister, Elizabeth Bourne, who has held several cabinet posts and is left-leaning but more technocrat than political.

As a member of the government for five years, she has introduced several important reforms.

Political media specialist Philippe Moreau-Chevrolet said Macron "is very pragmatic and has no interest in taking risks, and with Elizabeth Bourne, he has made the least divisive option, not deviating from his usual approach."

But this appointment did not arouse enthusiasm in the country, because Bourne remains unknown to many French people.

But what indicates that the president is playing on divisions is the rush of the conservative opposition to denounce a woman who is "leaning to the left", while on the contrary, the left has described her as very "liberal".

"At this point, we are witnessing a very balanced mixture of boldness and continuity, which indicates the president's keenness to remain in control of the rules of the game," Le Monde wrote.

Since the beginning of his presidency five years ago, Macron has been trying to play on political balances while consolidating his electorate base on the ruins of the social democratic left and the moderate right.

In his first term, he appointed two prime ministers from the right-wing opposition, Edouard Philippe, then Jean Castix, and at the same time benefited from old socialists such as Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.

By calling for overcoming the division between the left and the right, he has contributed to the weakening of historical parties, the "Republicans" from the right, the heirs of the de Gaulle movement, and the Socialist Party from the left.

Both parties suffered a setback in the presidential elections that took place in April.

Although he held a ministerial position in a socialist government under President Francois Hollande, Macron has not stopped working since his election in 2017 to reshape the political map.

He established his "Republic on the Move" movement, now called "Al-Nahda", in the hope of obtaining, along with his centrist allies, an absolute majority in the upcoming National Assembly at the conclusion of the legislative elections on June 12 and 19.

The ongoing political transition also reinforced the extremism recorded during the presidential elections with the strong push of the extreme right (41.45% in favor of Marine Le Pen, an unprecedented result) and the radical left behind Jean-Luc Melenchon (22%).

In the past weeks, Mélenchon gathered the various currents of the left into a popular, environmental and social union, in the hope that he would become the first opponent of Macron.

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