French President, Macron appoints Jean Castex as new prime minister after Philippe’s resignation

French President, Emmanuel Macron has appointed Jean Castex, as the country’s new prime minister following the resignation of Edouard Philippe which happened earlier today.

Mr Philippe will now take up the post of mayor in Le Havre, after winning the local vote on Sunday.

Mr. Castex, 55, is a local mayor from the Pyrenees, a senior civil servant and has played a key role in the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Until now a member of the right-wing “Les Républicains” party, he also worked for former President Nicolas Sarkozy’s team at the Elysée.

A senior French official described Castex as the ideal “Macronian” choice, because he is both a respected high-level civil servant with government experience and an elected mayor of a small town in the foothills of the Pyrenees.

The appointment of Castex brought angry criticism from the French left, who fear that little will change under another politician from the political right.

However, Castex faces a huge challenge as France, like other countries, fights the COVID-19 pandemic and its devastating economic fallout.