What does the composition of President Macron's post-election government tell us about France's likely reform programme? Were the four early resignations a sign of weakness or of strength? Is the young President in as strong a position as he looks? And, assuming things are going in the right direction, who will be the early winners on the Paris bourse?
Having been sworn in as the eighth president of the Fifth French Republic on 14 May, President Emmanuel Macron appointed Édouard Philippe, the little-known mayor of the unglamorous port-city of Le Havre to be his care-taker Prime Minister. 46-year old Monsieur Philippe came to the job with a fresh and unconventional CV. He had been elected on the Republican ticket – the party of Nicolas Sarkozy and the unsuccessful presidential candidate, François Fillon – but had let it be known that he had once been a socialist.
A keen boxer, author of some racy political thrillers, fluent in German and trendily bearded, Monsieur Philippe looks like the sort of fit, smiley, suntanned dude that you might find surfing at Biarritz this time of year. Personable and articulate, he assembled a cabinet of worthies of various political persuasions (more below) but conspicuously said nothing about economic policy.
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