French Prime Minister Resigns Before a Cabinet Reshuffle

PARIS — Seeking to give his government a fresh start after the coronavirus pandemic battered the nation, President Emmanuel Macron of France shuffled prime ministers on Friday, trading in the popular incumbent, Édouard Philippe, for a relatively unknown functionary who helped guide France out of the health emergency, Jean Castex.

Mr. Macron had widely been expected to extensively reshape his cabinet in the hopes of giving his government a fresh mandate in the last stretch of his five-year term in office, which ends in 2022.

Facing an economic crisis brought on by the virus, an ever-tenuous hold on public opinion, and a surge in support for Green parties in local voting last Sunday, Mr. Macron chose to separate himself from the most popular member of his government.

But in doing so he took a chance: Mr. Philippe, paradoxically, is the only political leader to have emerged from the health emergency with sharply enhanced credibility.

Unlike many of its European neighbors, France has a system of government in which the president, elected directly by the French people, is the head of the executive and is usually the main policy driver. The prime minister and cabinet are accountable to Parliament, but are appointed by the president and responsible for day-to-day governing.

In an interview on Thursday with France’s regional press, Mr. Macron praised Mr. Philippe for helping him carry out “important historic reforms in circumstances that were often very hard” and said they had a special “relationship of trust.”

“I will have choices to make to lead the new way,” Mr. Macron said of the cabinet reshuffle.

Mr. Philippe, a right-wing politician whose calm, pragmatic manner has been praised by the French during the pandemic, has climbed in opinion polls over the past weeks. One poll found that nearly 60 percent of respondents wanted Mr. Philippe to stay on as prime minister, although most also wanted to see a shift in policy from Mr. Macron.

Mr. Philippe was a relatively unknown mayor of Le Havre, a port town in northern France, when Mr. Macron appointed him prime minister in 2017.