MACRON PICKS CENTER-RIGHT LEADER AS PRIME MINISTER

President Emmanuel Macron named Jean Castex, a top civil servant and local mayor who orchestrated France’s coronavirus lockdown exit strategy, as his new prime minister on Friday as he acted to reinvent his administration and win back voters.

Castex, 55, hails from the center-right of French politics and served for two years as the second-highest ranking official in the Elysee Palace during Nicolas Sarkozy’s presidency, Michel Rose wrote for Reuters on July 3, 2020.

An Elysee official described Castex as a senior civil servant whose experience in local politics would help Macron connect with provincial France. Castex was a “social Gaullist,” the official said in reference to the more interventionist, socially minded wing of France’s center-right.

The announcement followed the resignation of Edouard Philippe ahead of a widely anticipated overhaul of the government by Macron.