France: the left names its candidate for PM
Following its election victory, the left-wing alliance New Popular Front (NFP) has agreed on Lucie Castets as its candidate for the office of prime minister. Castets (37) is a civil servant and economist. President Emmanuel Macron has said that he will not make a decision on the appointment of the prime minister until after the Summer Olympics. The response in the national press is ambivalent.
Look at this unrealistic programme
Les Echos has major doubts about the NFP's objectives:
“With or without a name, this does not change the lack of a durable parliamentary majority. ... The left's lead is merely relative. ... And the effect of this last-minute agreement on a name cannot obscure the basic facts. The bottom line is that the programme the NFP has agreed on is not only worrying - it's unrealistic. It is based on a hydraulic view of the economy (inject billions in public spending and growth will be automatic), which entails risks regarding the balance of trade, investment, employment and capital flight.”
The wisest choice
Lucie Castets embodies the necessary break with the incumbent government, Libération applauds:
“It would be a terrible democratic signal to imagine - as Emmanuel Macron seems to be doing - that the outgoing majority can (and even must) retain a central role despite its crushing defeat in the first round of the parliamentary elections, and that to do so it must not hesitate to submit to a right that seems determined to take advantage of Ensemble's weakness to position itself as a pivotal group. ... There must be a significant break after this parliamentary election. The appointment of Lucie Castets on behalf of the NRP appears to be the most logical, sensible solution; the one that looks the least like a tactical manoeuvre.”