He runs, he runs, the Castex. After a very short summer break, the Prime Minister resumed Tuesday his intensive travel program throughout France. Today's stage takes place in Montpellier then in La Grande-Motte for an operation to raise awareness of the risks associated with the heatwave and the persistent threat of a resumption of the Covid-19 epidemic.
Since his appointment to Matignon on July 3, this will be Jean Castex's 18th trip to the field, beyond the Paris ring road. What saturate the screens and settle in front of the French when he was still unknown to the general public a month ago. For now, the operation is working. In an Elabe poll for Les Échos and Radio Classique, the Prime Minister achieved a confidence rating of 36%, the same level as Édouard Philippe when he arrived at Matignon in 2017.
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“ It is not his objective to make himself known, the function will naturally contribute to it , we qualify in those around Jean Castex. But it is in its DNA to meet people in the field. It is not a posture, it is his temperament. He really is like that. "And he will still be until the end of August since he plans to continue his Tour de France at the rate of two trips per week. Then it will probably be more complicated. The start of the school year will be marked by the post-Covid recovery plan, the presentation of which is scheduled for August 25 in the Council of Ministers. This without counting a busy parliamentary calendar which will monopolize the Prime Minister at the start of the school year.
The head of government meets the firefighters, after the fire in Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul cathedral, on July 18. POOL / REUTERS
For the moment, Jean Castex is deployed on all fronts. In one month, the Prime Minister found himself marauding with the Samu social in Paris, with the wine growers, in a training center for apprentices, in an emergency accommodation center for women victims of domestic violence, in Nantes after the fire in the cathedral, in an nursing home in Bourg-en-Bresse, in a court in Bobigny… And his government is asked to follow the example.
At this infernal rate, it is difficult for the opposition to drag Jean Castex or one of his ministers into a summer controversy that is always risky for the government. For the time being, a single, somewhat loud voice has been heard to criticize Jean Castex, that of Laurent Joffrin in the name of his movement "Engageons-nous". “ We are talking about a Castex team. We should say a Sarkozy government , ”criticized the former director of Liberation . In view of the popularity of the former head of state, there is more virulent criticism.
In one month, Jean Castex has installed a style which is complementary to that of the Head of State and which fills the loopholes of the macronie. The Jupiterian posture of Emmanuel Macron annoys, Jean Castex over-invests in proximity. The president's faithful are under attack in “Parisianism”, the prime minister is deployed in the provinces. The youth of the head of state's close guard is criticized, Matignon plays the card of experience. The arrogant trial of Emmanuel Macron continues, Jean Castex relies on consideration for his interlocutors. In short, the Prime Minister is trying to calm things down after an eruptive start to his five-year term marked by the “yellow vests” crisis, the challenge to pension reform and the coronavirus health crisis.
“ This is also why the President of the Republic chose Jean Castex. Because it complements its own personality , we observe within the executive. It's a fairly classic choice in the second part of the five-year term . " Even more when the president can run for a second term. This is the case of Emmanuel Macron, who, beyond his priorities displayed on ecology and the regal, wants above all to appease the country. If his prime minister is firm on insecurity, it is also time for redistribution. The Covid crisis has gone through this and with it a certain form of budgetary relaxation.
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Aid is raining down to help the professions hard hit by the cessation of activity during confinement. The conflicting issue of the pivotal age is in the process of being removed from the pension reform ... To justify all this, Jean Castex invokes a " capacity to adapt to new circumstances ". Clearly, it is urgent to demine.