New French President Emmanuel Macron appointed Edouard Philippe as Prime Minister.
Philippe, a little known 46-year-old MP and mayor of the northern port of Le Havre, comes from the moderate wing of the rightwing Republicans party.
The French Prime Minister is the head of government and of the Council of Ministers of France.
The Prime Minister is appointed by the President. The President can choose whomever they want. While prime ministers are usually chosen from amongst the ranks of the National Assembly, on rare occasions the President has selected a non-officeholder because of their experience in bureaucracy or foreign service, or their success in business management—Dominique de Villepin, for example, served as Prime Minister from 2005 to 2007 without ever having held an elected office.
The Prime Minister proposes a list of ministers to the President of the Republic.
Decrees and decisions of the Prime Minister, like almost all executive decisions, are subject to the oversight of the administrative court system.
