Will the state of grace have been short-lived for Jean Castex? Two months after his surprise appointment, a summer when he made more trips to promote government voice on the ground, and the first very flattering polls, clouds have recently started to appear on the sky of Matignon.
“He's approaching a tight turn. The French will now wait in this very anxiety-provoking return to action, rather than words and grand declarations. Considering the context, it will not be a piece of pleasure for him ”, fears a member of the government, not surprised by the tumble recorded by the successor of Edouard Philippe in the last barometer Ifop for the JDD: seven points less in one month, to fall to 48% of French satisfied, and 46% who disapprove of its action (a figure up six points).
A stack of sensitive files
And the worst is perhaps to come while sensitive files are legion at the moment: significant resumption of the epidemic, big concerns about the organization of the start of the school year, obligation to wear a mask from September 1 in companies, threats of social plans, multiplication of various facts in recent weeks, even urban violence after the defeat of PSG. The list is long for the one who will make his media return this Wednesday with an interview on France Inter, then a speech at the beginning of the afternoon in front of the Medef. Before a press conference devoted this Thursday to preventive health measures against Covid.
This re-entry, the new Prime Minister had imagined it a little differently: on the offensive in the economic field, with the presentation of the recovery plan of 100 billion euros which was initially planned for Tuesday. And an on-line media plan to ensure after-sales service and show the image of an executive with initiative in the face of the crisis. But Emmanuel Macron finally decided to postpone this presentation for a week, "while Castex was rather favorable to its maintenance", says an adviser, who speaks of "a small setback" for the tenant of Matignon.
"The risk for him is not to have an identity"
In the majority, some are also beginning to question his style. “I really appreciate him, but I'm quite reserved about this idea of territories that he constantly evokes. We are still in a nation, not in a territory ", lashes a heavyweight of the executive, without ignoring the arduous task of this Prime Minister that no one knew a few weeks ago:" He is arriving in the middle of the five-year term, in the midst of a crisis. At the slightest anxiety of the French, he will take that in the polls. And then to get into the minds of our compatriots, it takes at least ten years… except for Macron ”.
A macronie strategist deciphers the phenomenon differently: “For the moment, he has not succeeded in personalizing his action. When he's on the move, basically, we don't remember much, we don't really know what his angles are, his real priorities. And the risk for him is not having an identity. In my opinion, the French have not yet met Jean Castex ”.
The interested party shows himself to be sure of himself
The main interested party does not care about these remarks. Are the polls falling? No comments do we know. In private, he is even self-confident, satisfied with his first weeks at Matignon. "Anyway, he got it into his head that he would take it all in the face. Suddenly, starting from there, it makes it easier for him to exercise, ”remarks his entourage who adds that he“ expects, in principle, the worst, so he is not psychologically disturbed ”by the ups and downs.
And Jean Castex does not intend to end his discourse on the territories either. According to our information, he even intends to meet soon, and at a rate of once a month, with the public and private actors of a given territory - and why not French people drawn by lot - to talk ecological transition and verify the implementation of the green measures of the recovery plan. Like a sort of great national debate revisited in the Castex version. And a good way, perhaps, to imprint his mark.
