President Emmanuel Macron is off to take in the sea air. What could be better than letting his gaze drift over the horizon to reflect, alone, on the end of his second term? Spotted on Sunday, July 28 at the Fort de Brégançon, the presidential holiday residence in southern France, where he joined his wife, the French leader is embarking on a fortnight's family vacation, mixing days of work and relaxation, according to the Elysée. After attending the breathtaking Paris Olympics opening ceremony on Friday, the president promised to make a few quick trips to the capital between now and the end of the competition on August 11 to congratulate the medal-winning French athletes.
Between two Parisian round trips, proud and relieved that no tragedy has so far marred the sporting event, and unaffected – according to his entourage – by having been booed here and there by the crowds, Macron is, as he puts it, "chewing on" his ideas. By mid-August, he intends to appoint a prime minister capable of dealing with a motley Assemblée Nationale, with no majority group. According to those close to him, the head of state has a few ideas. And he is taking advantage of the "political truce" he himself decreed during the Games to hone his plan.
Macron finally admitted defeat in the legislative elections, acknowledging on July 23 in an interview with France 2 and Radio France that the outgoing majority had lost. "Macron has come out of denial," said Frédéric Dabi, director general of the IFOP polling firm.
This admission has led the French president to imagine the new head of government as someone who could create consensus and appeal to both the left and the right, while offering, the Elysée said, "a flavor of cohabitation," when the president and prime minister come from opposing political camps. Better still, Macron, until now "omni-president," seems ready to adopt an attitude similar to that of former president François Mitterrand, limiting himself to presiding while leaving the prime minister to govern.
A name to occupy the prime minister's office has already been suggested by the Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP), the left-wing alliance that came out on top in the legislative elections: Lucie Castets, director of financial affairs at Paris City Hall. But Macron is struggling to hide his lack of enthusiasm for this Parisian graduate of the Ecole Nationale d'Administration for top civil servants, who is unknown to the general public. The Elysée is annoyed by the 37-year-old's "vindictive" stance, as she intends to apply the NFP's policy platform, which includes reinstating the wealth tax and repealing Macron's pension reform. "The country's urgency is not to destroy what we've just done, but to build and move forward," Macron scoffed on July 23, brushing aside the hypothesis of making Castets his prime minister.
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