The former Prime Minister takes office in a tense social climate and the new CEO of EDF, before the renationalization of the group.
MO12345LEMONDE with AFP
The Council of Ministers ratified, Wednesday, November 23, the appointment of Jean Castex at the head of the RATP and that of Luc Rémont at the controls of EDF.
The former Prime Minister succeeds Catherine Guillouard, who resigned in early September for personal reasons. He will have the heavy task of restoring a very largely degraded service since this summer due to a conflicting social climate and operating difficulties due to a shortage of staff, all with the horizon of the 2024 Olympic Games.
During his hearing in Parliament, on November 8 and 9, he promised to “meet the expectations of users”. He gave himself three weeks to establish a “shared diagnosis” and “find additional tools” to restore the situation, with an “stake of quality of life at work”. He intends in particular to increase human presence in contact with travelers and “humanize as much as possible [the] service”.
The new CEO of EDF, which the State is preparing to renature 100 %, had been appointed by the Elysée on September 29, and the Parliament validated its appointment on October 26. 53 -year -old polytechnic engineer, he has the experience of ministerial offices and a passage through the Bank of America Merrill Lynch business bank then at Schneider Electric. He succeeds Jean-Bernard Lévy, 67, who had been at EDF helpers since 2014, whose early departure had been announced this summer, at the same time as the next renationalization of the group. He will go during his first day to this position on the site of the Flamanville nuclear power plant (Manche), where a third reactor is under construction.