On the verge of imploding, for lack of agreement, the Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP) left-wing alliance finally united on Tuesday, July 23, behind a name to propose to President Emmanuel Macron for the post of prime minister: Lucie Castets. A long-awaited outcome, and an unexpected choice, both surprising and disconcerting given that the finance director for Paris City Hall is not only unknown to the general public, but also to those inside political circles.
This "plan C" full of surprises and unanswered questions did nonetheless end up with a consensus. The NFP – made up of La France Insoumise (LFI, radical left), the Communists, the Greens and the Socialists – had previously failed to agree on two names: Laurence Tubiana, also a technocrat, but who was rejected by LFI for being too "Macron-compatible," and Huguette Bello, president of the regional council of La Réunion, deemed by the Socialists to be too close to LFI leaderJean-Luc Mélenchon.
Castets, 37, a graduate of the Ecole Nationale d'Administration for top civil servants, who describes herself as left-wing, is not affiliated with any political party, although she was a member of the Parti Socialiste between 2008 and 2011. For the time being, at least, she is not interested in the 2027 presidential election, which means she doesn't pose a threat to any of the NFP's key components. "She's a free woman," analyzed Olivier Faure, the leader of the Socialists. "We need people who present a different face of politics, who surprise us with the sincerity and strength of their conviction, without ulterior motives."
A former official at the Treasury, with a reputation for technical excellence, Castets has never been elected. The senior civil servant has long been involved in the fight against tax injustice and the rehabilitation of public services. She co-founded the organization Our Public Services and, at the Ministry of Finance, worked on cracking down on financial crime. In the wake of the NFP's announcement, Castets told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that she had accepted the left-wing alliance's proposal "in all humility, but with great conviction," believing herself to be a "credible and serious" candidate for prime minister.
The NFP, of course, struck a similar tone. The left-wing alliance declared, in a joint statement that Castets will be "strong in our full commitment to her side in the government she will lead." She now embodies the NFP's policy platform. LFI, which was very reluctant to let a personality from civil society be proposed for prime minister, was also seduced after having "auditioned" her, like the other parties in the NFP, one-by-one and by telephone, during the day.
You have 64.37% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.