Macron names conservative prime minister, eyes closer ties with Berlin

Newly-inaugurated French President Emmanuel Macron appointed a conservative prime minister on Monday in a move to broaden his political appeal and weaken his opponents before legislative elections in June.

Edouard Philippe, 46, a lawmaker and mayor of port city Le Havre, is from the moderate wing of the centre-right The Republicans party and will be a counterweight to former Socialist MPs who have joined Macron’s cause.

Macron has vowed to end the left-right politics which have dominated France for decades, and his start-up centrist Republic on the Move (REM) party, which is just a year old, needs to find a wide base of support for the parliamentary elections.

Philippe is a close associate of former prime minister Alain Juppe, who leads the moderate wing of The Republicans and has ­indicated that he favours helping Macron. His appointment could draw more defectors from The ­Republicans.

On the other side of the political divide, Macron’s decision not to put up an REM candidate to ­oppose former Socialist prime minister Manuel Valls in his ­constituency ties Valls closer and makes it hard for a divided left to reunite. It is the first time in modern French political history that a president has appointed a prime minister from outside his camp without being forced to by a ­defeat in parliamentary elections.

By appointing Philippe, Macron has passed over some loyal followers including Richard Ferrand, a former Socialist who was one of the first to join Macron’s cause last year and is secretary general of REM. “In government, you will see that a lot of the inner circle will drop out,” Christophe Castaner, Macron’s campaign spokesman, said. “I was among the first to say ‘why not a prime minister from the right’? That’s in the nature of what we are trying to do ... It’s tough ... especially for the longest-serving ones.”