Paris, May 15 (IANS): Newly sworn-in French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday named Edouard Philippe, the 46-year-old Mayor of Le Havre city, as his Prime Minister.
Philippe is a member of the centre-right Les Republicains party and is close to Alaine Juppe, the former Prime Minister, reports CNN.
The 39-year-old former investment banker and economy minister was inaugurated on Sunday as the 25th President of France and also the youngest in the nation’s history in a ceremony at the Élysee Palace.
Macron is counting on winning votes from centre-right supporters in the legislative elections next month.
His party Le Republique en Marche is scrambling to get 577 candidates together to contest every seat in the country.
Philippe, a lawyer with experience working in the private sector, was born in Rouen and grew up a Left-wing environment.
He was a socialist in his younger days before switching his allegiances to the right.
He has only been a member of Parliament for one term, serving in the National Assembly representing the constituency of Seine-Maritime in Normandy, northern France, since 2012.
He has been Mayor of Le Havre since 2010.
Macron was sworn-in as the President after his landslide victory over far-right National Front leader Marine le Pen, with 66 per cent of the vote in the run-off poll held on May 7.
He is also slated to travel to Germany later on Monday to meet Chancellor Angela Merkel.
