Three days before the Olympics, with Emmanuel Macron urging a sports-wide pause, the left-wing coalition known as the New Popular Front has named its candidate for prime minister: economist Lucie Castets. The move follows a tense phase of negotiations where the left struggled to agree on a flawless choice to lead the government. Castets, cofounder and spokesperson of Nos Services Publics, is 37 and has captured attention among voters since 2022, notably after a televised debate about the McKinsey scandal involving former public official Stanislas Guérini. She emphasized the loss of about 180,000 state workers between 2006 and 2018 while consulting firms’ use surged, a point she has used to frame her political stance while keeping a relatively low public profile since. (AFP)
Parliamentary budgeting chief for Paris, Castets is described as a leader who has fought to defend and promote public services and who engages actively in the broader battle of ideas against pension reform. She is seen as someone who can rally the left behind the shared goals of social and environmental urgency, even as she waits for the public word from president Macron and his final decision. (AFP)
Castets now has the support of the left but may still face the president, who holds the final say and has asked for a temporary pause in the debates as the political landscape shifts. Fabien Roussel, secretary of the Communist Party, praised Castets as a candidate capable of addressing immediate social and ecological needs. In an interview with AFP, Castets asserted her aim to repeal the pension reform, a core demand for the coalition but one that Macron has stated should be negotiated through broader parliamentary majority.
Her ascent comes just as the socialists had set a July 23 deadline to seal a coalition agreement. If no agreement was reached by then, the socialist faction warned they might withdraw from the New Popular Front. Early reactions included Marine Tondelier, the green party leader, who urged consensus across all four political groups and called on Macron to acknowledge the coalition’s result and appoint Castets.
At present Castets is not a formal member of any single party within the New Popular Front—comprising the Socialists, La France Insoumise, ecologists, and communists—but she previously ran in regional elections in Normandy in 2015 as a Socialist candidate.
Macron delays a formal decision until mid-August
An hour after Castets was named, Macron gave his first interview on France 2 after legislative elections. He had not spoken publicly before, aside from a letter to the French people urging the construction of a broadly plural majority. In the interview, Macron indicated he would not appoint a new government until around mid-August and suggested he would not resign. When asked about Castets, he avoided naming a specific party alignment, stressing that the central issue is forming a majority in the National Assembly to back reforms and a budget that moves the country forward.
Observers note the timing is tight. The left needs to show it can govern, and the president must weigh the feasibility of moving an agenda that requires cross-party support. The next steps will hinge on parliamentary dynamics, party negotiations, and the ability of Castets to unify the coalition behind a coherent platform as France braces for a period of political realignment.