France’s Macron appoints centre-right PM to widen appeal

Paris, May 15 (AFP) New French President Emmanuel Macron named centre-right lawmaker Edouard Philippe as prime minister today in a further effort to splinter the country’s traditional parties and redraw the political map. Philippe, a little known 46-year-old MP and mayor of the northern port of Le Havre, comes from the moderate wing of the rightwing Republicans party and is seen as a pragmatist. His appointment was seen as a strategic move by 39-year- old Macron, who is trying to woo modernisers of all stripes to his new centrist party, the Republique en Marche (Republic on the Move, REM). France’s fervently pro-European new president – who travelled to Berlin later to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel – has already won over dozens of moderate Socialist MPs. Former investment banker Macron, who trounced far-right leader Marine Le Pen in the May 7 presidential run-off, aims to take votes from both the Republicans and Socialists in next month’s crucial parliamentary election. Philippe has been presented as his Trojan horse on the right of the spectrum. Taking over from outgoing prime minister Bernard Cazeneuve during a short ceremony, Philippe described himself as “a man of the right” who was driven by “the greater good”. Like Macron, Philippe is a product of France’s elite ENA college who worked for a while in the private sector and has little truck with the country’s fraying left-right divide. Relatively unknown outside his northern fiefdom, he has never served in national government. After campaigning for Socialist prime minister Michel Rocard as a youth, he switched to the right, becoming a close ally of centre-right former prime minister Alain Juppe. Mayor of his hometown of Le Havre, the German-speaking father of three, who writes crime novels in his spare time, was elected to parliament in 2012. Juppe today praised him as “a very talented man”. His appointment as premier is a blow to the Republicans, who have been trying to regroup after the presidential vote and prevent defections to Macron’s camp. Republicans secretary-general Bernard Accoyer said there were no immediate plans to expel Philippe from the party but that he would have to “clear up the ambiguity” about his loyalties. Some in the party have argued in favour of an alliance with Macron. Around 20 MPs today issued a statement urging the Republicans and centre-right UDI to “accept his outstretched hand”, saying the right needed to “take the full measure of the political transformation taking place before their eyes”. (AFP)