It is just over three years since the election of Emmanuel Macron to the presidency of France. All of Gaul is united against him. All? No! From a village in the foothills of the Pyrenees, in a remote corner of Occitanie, Jean Castex, the irréductible mayor of the tiny commune of Prades (population 6,124), has emerged in a puff of smoke to become the President’s new prime minister. Castex is a previously almost unheard-of regional politician with a name that sounds as if he has leapt directly from an Asterix comic book.
Being prime minister of France is probably the most thankless job in European politics. The president takes the credit for whatever goes right, while the premier takes the blame for whatever goes wrong. One wonders why Castex accepted. He’s already thought to be paid at least €179,000 a year for his bulging portfolio of public–sector jobs.
Despite his superficial rusticity, Castex is an énarque (graduate of the elite École nationale d’administration), just like his predecessor, Édouard Philippe, and just like Macron himself.
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