Emmanuel Macron names Jean Castex as new French PM in major reshuffle

Castex, 55, hails from the centre-right of French politics and served for two years as the second-highest ranking official in the Élysee Palace during Nicolas Sarkozy's presidency

President Emmanuel Macron named Jean Castex, a top civil servant and local mayor who orchestrated France's coronavirus lockdown exit strategy, as his new prime minister on Friday as he acted to reinvent his administration and win back voters.

Castex, 55, hails from the centre-right of French politics and served for two years as the second-highest ranking official in the Élysée Palace during Nicolas Sarkozy's presidency.

An Elysee official described Castex as a senior civil servant whose experience in local politics would help Macron connect with provincial France. Castex was a "social Gaullist", the official said in reference to the more interventionist, socially minded wing of France's centre-right.

The announcement followed the resignation of Edouard Philippe ahead of a widely anticipated overhaul of the government by Macron.

Macron is reshaping his government as France grapples with the deepest economic depression since World War Two, a sharp downturn that will shrink the economy by about 11 per cent in 2020 and reverse hard-fought gains on unemployment.