The resignation of Jean Castex is imminent and a replacement is already being sought

The most imminent challenge facing Emmanuel Macron is that of government formation. Tomorrow he will chair a Council of Ministers with all the members of the current team. And it is expected that in the next few days, Prime Minister Jean Castex will present his resignation, as well as that of his Executive. He could be re-elected, but he himself has hinted that change is necessary or, as he put it, “a new impulse.”

Macron must appoint a new prime minister, to replace Castex, and entrust him with the constitution of a new Executive. With this cabinet change, he will seek to give a new impetus to his presidency (which will formally end on May 13) after Sunday’s elections. “This new stage will not be the continuity of the one that is ending, but rather five better years at the service of our country,” the president promised.

The French press is already beginning to make pools about who of the current ministers could remain and with what portfolio and what new faces could join the new government. Whether Macron will decide to appoint a woman to Matignon remains to be seen. One of the names that are sounding more strongly to replace the current prime minister is that of the head of Labor, Elisabeth Borne.

In the Fifth Republic, France has only had one prime minister: Edith Cresson, appointed in 1991 by the socialist president François Mitterrand. The newspaper ‘Le Parisien’, which quotes an adviser to the president, refers to the possibility that the new prime minister is the current head of Agriculture, Julien Denormandie. The Minister of Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, or the head of the Interior portfolio, Gérald Darmanin, would also have a projection for the position. There has even been speculation with Christine Lagarde, current president of the European Central Bank (ECB).