The masks, obligatory on collective transport until now, will become compulsory in all indoor places frequented by the public, prime minister Jean Castex said in the Senate.
Prime minister Jean Castex said jobs would be the “absolute priority” in the coming months and money will be pumped into creating jobs for young people, among those worst hit by the Covid crisis.
He said a 100-billion-euro economic recovery package, to be rolled out on Friday, will include 40 billion euros in support for domestic industry and services.
Newly appointed French Prime Minister Jean Castex said his government is preparing for a second wave of the Covid-19 epidemic, but ruled out a repeat of the near-total lockdown on public movement which was applied at a national level between March and May, and instead locking down specific areas of any resurgence, because 'the economic and human consequences from a total lockdown are disastrous'.
The announcement of the composition of the government to serve under France’s newly appointed prime minister Jean Castex was largely a reshuffle, but with a few notable new arrivals, including the controversial figure of lawyer Éric Dupont-Moretti who was appointed as justice minister. It is also marked by the reinforcement of allies of former president Nicolas Sarkozy to key posts. Ellen Salvi reports on the comings and goings, and analyses the process by which President Emmanuel Macron, with his appointment of Castex, has largely effaced the remaining power of the post of prime minister, and significantly increased his own.
The new French government of Prime Minister Jean Castex, who replaced Édouard Philippe on Friday after the latter's three years in the job, was announced on Monday evening when it emerged that heavyweights from the outgoing cabinet remain in place while others were largely reshuffled, with the notable exceptions of the arrival of controversial lawyer Éric Dupond-Moretti as justice minister and Roselyne Bachelot, a former conservative sports minister under Nicolas Sarkozy, as culture minister.
The composition of a new French government was announced on Monday evening, following the appointment on Friday of a largely unknown senior civil servant and longstanding conservative, Jean Castex, as France’s new prime minister. He replaced Édouard Philippe, who served in the post since Emmanuel Macron’s election in 2017. Mediapart political correspondent Ellen Salvi dresses here a portrait of the new prime minister, and chronicles the tensions that led to the departure of Philippe.
After serving three years in office, beginning with the election of President Emmanuel Macron, and days after his re-election as mayor in his political fiefdom of Le Havre, France's prime minister Édouard Philippe has been replaced by Jean Castex, 55, a high-ranking civil servant and conservative, largely unknown to the public, and who will lead a reshuffled government on what the Élysée Palace announced would be a 'new path'.
