JEAN CASTEX – The new Prime minister does not want to be reduced to a simple “contributor” the head of State. Jean Castex is defined as “a man of the territories” and would like to get to work as soon as possible.
[updated on July 5, 2020 at 17h59] Many have argued that choosing Jean Castex, Emmanuel Macron wanted to take the hand on the prime minister’s office. In fact, the head of State is separate Friday, July 3, for a Prime minister to be extremely popular, Édouard Philippe, and replace it with a high-government official, mayor of a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales, little known to the general public. However, Jean Castex, wants to dispel this theory. “When you have learned to know me, you will see that my personality is not soluble in the term ’employee'”, he states in the JDD Sunday the 5th of July.
Since Friday, July 3, France, is the knowledge of his new Prime minister. Mayor of the municipality of Prades, committed to the right, a graduate of the ENA, Jean Castex, it was made known in April, when his appointment as “mr. déconfinement” by the head of the State. Édouard Philippe described it as “a high-ranking official who knows the world of health and that is terrible for efficiency.” Prior to this, Jean Castex was inter-ministerial delegate for the olympic and paralympic Games in 2024, and president of the national Agency for sport. The high-civil servant has a long political experience. He has been deputy secretary general of the Élysée under the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy of 2010 until the end of its mandate. The new Prime minister knows well the inner workings of the Elysée and the government. He has been director of the cabinet of Xavier Bertrand when he was the minister of Health and Labour.
During his first trip as head of government, on Saturday, July 4, on the site of the group X-Fab, Corbeil-Essonnes, Jean Castex, has wished to clarify that he was “a man of the territories”. Friday night, already, a few hours after the handover of power, he is described as “a local politician and the daily life of the people” during his first interview on TF1. His father also puts the emphasis on the relationship of the Prime minister with the territories and says to Jean Castex, that it “is not a mandarin of the 16th arrondissement of Paris”, with Europe 1.
A man of the right who does not stick to LR
In 2008, Jean Castex, becomes mayor of Prades, under the banner of the UMP. In 2012, he supported the candidacy of François Fillon for the presidency of the UMP. “Politically, I am right and I take it perfectly,” he said. Friday 3 July, the day of the handover of power with Edouard Philippe, Jean Castex, has yet made its card to the Republicans. The party boss Christian Jacob explains that he “had taken his distance these last few days”. On TF1, Jean Castex says that he assumes this decision and justifies it thus : “I had been unhappy with the way in which had been argued by the candidate to Perpignan, which has allowed the national Rally to elect its candidate.”
“A real swiss army knife
The former adviser of Nicolas Sarkozy, Franck Louvrier, sets Jean Castex as “a true swiss army knife. He has connections everywhere, he knows how to do what it takes to make it in the right place”. So it is he who will lead the “new way” promised by Emmanuel Macron, with the “goals of independence, reconstruction, reconciliation, and new methods to implement”, as explained by the head of State in his interview to the regional press published Thursday, July 2.
During his first interview in the face of the French, at JT of TF1, on Friday evening, Jean Castex is defined as a “gaullist” in social. “My values are secularism, the authority, are those of the Republic”, added the Prime minister, also evoking “respect the republic” and “the authority”. “You can’t expect everything from the State, each of us can contribute something to our country,” said the one who said “at the service” of his country. “I’m not here to seek the light, I am here to look for the results,” said Jean Castex. Its policy statement is expected in the parliament “in the middle of next week”.
A political man, appreciated
In a statement, the Elysée has defended the choice of Jean Castex to the prime minister describing it as “a high-ranking official complete and versatile which will be at the heart of reform the State and to lead a dialogue appeased with the territory.” The presidency of the Republic evokes the high official, as “the man of the situation”, because of its ability to ‘work through dialogue and in a spirit of gathering”. Jean Castex will “implement the reconstructions mentioned by the head of State in its recent expressions in the framework of the new path”, one can read in the press release.
According to an article in the World published at the beginning of June, Jean Castex draws praise, whether on the part of his camp, but also of other political tendencies. A contributor describes his way of working as “fantastic”. “It is someone who has understood, which is very rare in the high French administration, that the power, this is not to keep the information to itself, but, on the contrary, the share,” adds this source. Valérie Pécresse, the president of the region Île-de-France, emphasises this “mixture quite unheard of very great knowledge of the State apparatus and the sensitivity of the field”. And Stéphane Troussel, president PS of Seine-Saint-Denis the sets as “the guy legit by excellence”, “very friendly”.
last march 15, the native of the Gers has been re-elected in the first round of the municipal head of the municipality of Prades, in the Pyrénées-Orientales, with 75% of the votes. Jean Castex enjoys a popularity important as a local elected representative. “Jean Castex is a good mayor, for us it is a matter of pride, but he remains simple,” says one of his constituents, cited by Marianne. An assistant in the town of Prades has also reacted to his appointment as Prime minister. For Ahmed Bekheira, “he is an exceptional man, who is not sectarian. He knows how to do the gathering”. “I’m delighted for him, because I know that this is the man of the situation”, he added.
What is the background of Jean Castex ?
Born in Vic-Fezensac in the Gers, in 1965, Jean Castex, is part of a family of fibre-policy since his grandfather was a senator of the Gers and the mayor of the city is the birthplace of the future Prime minister. A graduate of Sciences Po in Paris, then ENA, he is an adviser to the Court of auditors. Jean Castex takes us in the Direction of hospitalization and care organization (DHOS) of the ministry of Health and solidarity, from 2005 to 2006. Subsequently, he became director of the cabinet of Xavier Bertrand from 2006 to 2007 in the Health and then at Work, under the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy. It has, therefore, a certain knowledge of business and social and hospital sector.
Under the banner of the UMP, Jean Castex, becomes mayor of Prades, in the Pyrénées-Orientales, in 2008. Social affairs advisor to Nicolas Sarkozy, the president then appoints the deputy secretary general of the Élysée palace until the end of its mandate, in 2012. In September 2017, the senior civil servant is appointed inter-ministerial delegate for the olympic and paralympic Games in 2024. In April 2019, he takes over the presidency of the national Agency for sport. Jean Castex becomes the “mr. déconfinement” the government of Édouard Philippe April 2, 2020.
Jean Castex : thank you Sarkozy ?
In 2018, Jean Castex was tipped to the ministry of the Interior. A key man would have made the connection between the mayor of Prades and Emmanuel Macron : Nicolas Sarkozy. The former president and the current head of State would have lunch together and the name of Jean Castex would have been blown away by the one who led France between 2007 and 2012. Jean Castex corresponded perfectly to the profile sought, both technical and political. “The President wants a government that has the same alchemy policy than the current one. This is the equation : do not give up on the DNA of civil society,” confided at the time, the entourage of Emmanuel Macron to the JDD. Jean Castex had the advantage of knowing the workings between the Elysée and the main services of the ministry of the Interior.
The first words of Jean Castex
just named by Emmanuel Macron and before the transfer of power from Friday 3 July, the new Prime minister addressed a few words to the inhabitants of Prades, the city of which he is the mayor since 2008. “The President of the Republic was proposed to me to appoint me Prime minister. Given the extraordinary circumstances in which our country, I accepted,” explains Jean Castex. This added measure “the immensity of the task that awaits him. “To fill it, I will be powerfully helped by the experience gained at your side as the mayor and by the strong democratic support that you have shown me since a long time demonstrated”, he says. Jean Castex informs him that he can no longer exercise his duties as mayor and that he left hand to his first deputy, Yves Delcor.
