Emmanuel Macron appoints a post-partisan government

IN THE first test of his promise to bridge the party divide, Emmanuel Macron has appointed a government marked by political balance, novelty and competence. A day after his inauguration on May 14th, France’s president named as prime minister Edouard Philippe, the centre-right mayor of Le Havre, to counterbalance his own roots on the left. Two days later, he unveiled a post-partisan team of ministers that mixes left and right, old and new.

The appointment of Mr Philippe was a coup of sorts. A year ago, when the 39-year-old Mr Macron launched his political movement, En Marche! (“On the Move!”), he vowed to “unblock” France by ending the confrontational division between left and right. Yet in reality, the bulk of his supporters came from the left or the centre. The Republicans, who want to form a solid block in parliament after legislative elections on June 11th and 18th, proved largely immune to Mr Macron’s charms.

Mr Philippe, however, succumbed. A former right-hand man to Alain Juppé, a centre-right ex-prime minister who came second in the Republicans’ presidential primary last year, Mr Philippe once said that he nonetheless shares “90%” of Mr Macron’s thinking. Like the new president, he was educated at the high-flying Ecole Nationale d’Administration. But, largely unknown to the public, he comes across less as a product of the elite than a fresh face. Born in provincial Normandy and with no ministerial experience, the 46-year-old Mr Philippe in this sense fits Mr Macron’s promise to renew political life.

Mr Philippe has already helped to unlock further defections from the Republicans. Among them are Bruno Le Maire, a former Europe minister, who will head the finance ministry, and Gérald Darmanin, the young Republican mayor of Tourcoing, who becomes budget minister. All three men were instantly evicted from their party. Polls suggest that Mr Macron’s movement, rebaptised La République en Marche! (“The Republic on the Move!”), could be the biggest party in June, but may fall short of a majority. The centre-right flavour to Mr Macron’s new team could help to win him votes from that side.

A former Socialist economy minister, the new president has not neglected the left. Jean-Yves Le Drian, the outgoing Socialist defence minister, becomes foreign minister; Gérard Collomb, the Socialist mayor of Lyon, goes to the interior. From the centre, Sylvie Goulard, a German-speaking centrist member of the European Parliament, becomes defence minister, and the government’s most senior woman. François Bayrou, another centrist and political veteran, goes to justice. The team is pragmatic, pro-European, friendly to Germany and financially conservative.

Mr Macron has also brought in political outsiders with expertise. These include Agnès Buzyn, a haematologist, who becomes health minister; Muriel Pénicaud, a former executive at Danone, a food company, as labour minister; Jean-Michel Blanquer, head of ESSEC, a business school, who gets education; and Nicolas Hulot, a green campaigner, as environment minister.

In the past, France has had mixed experience with ministers from outside politics. The grubby compromises and political manoeuvring that government involves do not always suit the merely competent. Nor is it obvious that all of the new team will be able to put tribal instincts behind them. They have less than a month before parliamentary elections in which to persuade those not naturally drawn to Mr Macron to support his cross-party vision in the national interest, rather than obstruct it for partisan gain.