Lucie Castets

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Lucie Castets

| honorific-suffix =

| constituency =

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1987|3|3|df=y}}

| birth_place = Caen, France

| death_date =

| death_place =

| party = NFP (2024–present)

| spouse =

| children = 1

| alma_mater = Sciences Po (BA; MA)
London School of Economics (MA)
Fudan University
École nationale d'administration

| website =

| occupation = {{hlist|Economist|civil servant}}

| predecessor1 =

| image = Lucie Castets 31 juillet 2024.jpg

| caption = Castets in 2024

| otherparty = PS (2008–2011)

| office1 = Chief financial officer of Paris

| termstart1 = October 2023

| 1namedata1 = Anne Hidalgo

| 1blankname1 = Mayor

}}

Lucie Castets ({{IPA|fr|lysi kaste}}; born 3 March 1987){{Cite web |last= |first= |date=23 July 2024 |title=Lucie Castets (NFP) : la page Wikipédia de la candidate pour le poste de Premier ministre supprimée, "C'est cocasse" |url=https://www.mariefrance.fr/actualite/societe/lucie-castets-nfp-la-page-wikipedia-de-la-candidate-pour-le-poste-de-premier-ministre-supprimee-cest-cocasse-1053892.html |access-date=24 July 2024 |website=Marie France, magazine féminin |language=fr-FR}} is a French civil servant and economist. Associated with the Socialist Party, Castets was nominated by the New Popular Front (NFP) to serve as Prime Minister of France in the aftermath of the 2024 legislative election, but her candidacy was rejected by president Emmanuel Macron.{{Cite news |title=Nouveau gouvernement : Emmanuel Macron refuse de nommer Lucie Castets et lance de nouvelles consultations |url=https://www.lesechos.fr/politique-societe/emmanuel-macron-president/nouveau-gouvernement-emmanuel-macron-refuse-de-nommer-lucie-castets-et-lance-de-nouvelles-consultations-2115247 |work=Les Echos |date=26 August 2024 |access-date=5 September 2024 |language=fr}}

Early life and education

Castets was born in Caen to parents who worked as psychoanalysts, and resided in Caen up until the age of 18.{{cite web |title=Qui est Lucie Castets, proposée par le Nouveau Front populaire pour Matignon ? |url=https://www.nouvelobs.com/politique/20240723.OBS91516/haute-fonctionnaire-engagee-pour-la-defense-de-services-publics-qui-est-lucie-castets-proposee-par-le-nfp-pour-matignon.html |work=Le Nouvel Obs |date=23 July 2024}} She studied at the lycée Charles-de-Gaulle in Caen,{{Cite web |last=AlloCine |date=1 September 2024 |title=Palmarès Angoulême 2024 : remarqué à Cannes, ce film avec des acteurs non professionnels remporte le Valois de diamant |url=https://www.allocine.fr/article/fichearticle_gen_carticle=1000100841.html |access-date=2 September 2024 |website=AlloCiné |language=fr}} and afterwards studied political economy and public law at Sciences Po.{{Cite news |date=24 July 2024 |title=Qui est Lucie Castets, l'inconnue proposée par la gauche pour Matignon? - Le Temps |url=https://www.letemps.ch/monde/europe/qui-est-lucie-castets-l-inconnue-proposee-par-la-gauche-pour-matignon |access-date=24 July 2024 |language=fr |issn=1423-3967}} She received a master's degree from Sciences Po and the London School of Economics and studied Chinese at Fudan University in Shanghai, before graduating from the École nationale d'administration in 2013.{{Cite news |date=24 July 2024 |title=Qui est Lucie Castets, l'inconnue proposée par la gauche pour Matignon? - Le Temps |url=https://www.letemps.ch/monde/europe/qui-est-lucie-castets-l-inconnue-proposee-par-la-gauche-pour-matignon |access-date=24 July 2024 |language=fr |issn=1423-3967}}{{Cite news |date=22 July 2024 |title=French leftist front proposes financial crime fighter as prime minister candidate |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/french-leftist-front-propose-lucie-castets-candidate-prime-minister-2024-07-23/ |work=Reuters}}

Civil service career

Castets began her career in the French civil service in 2007, working as an assistant to the cultural attaché at the Consulate-General of France in Shanghai between 2007 and 2008.{{cite web |title=France – Qui est Lucie Castets, la nouvelle candidate pour le poste du chef du gouvernement ? |url=https://www.tunisienumerique.com/france-qui-est-lucie-castets-la-nouvelle-candidate-pour-le-poste-du-chef-du-gouvernement/ |work=Tunisie Numérique |date=23 July 2024}}{{cite web |title=Extrait de la fiche de Mme Lucie Castets |url=https://www.lesbiographies.com/Biographie/CASTETS-Lucie,204700 |website=LesBiographies.com}} She became involved with the World Bank in 2011, primarily working on projects involving financial intelligence.{{cite web |first=Pierre-Laurent |last=Chatain |title=Protecting mobile money against financial crime |publisher=World Bank |url=https://globalinitiative.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/World-Bank-Protecting-Mobile-Money-against-Financial-Crimes.pdf}} In 2014, she was working at the Direction générale du Trésor within the Ministry of Economics and Finance, and then became the government commissioner to the Bureau central de tarification.

Between 2018 and 2020, Castets headed a section at Tracfin within the Ministry of Economics and Finance, the intelligence agency responsible for combating illegal financial circuits, money laundering, and the financing of terrorism.{{Cite web |date=23 July 2024 |title=EXCLUSIF : Lucie Castets proposée par le Nouveau Front populaire au poste de Première ministre - L'Humanité |url=https://www.humanite.fr/politique/nouveau-front-populaire/exclusif-lucie-castets-proposee-par-le-nouveau-front-populaire-au-poste-de-premiere-ministre |access-date=23 July 2024 |website=Humanité}} In 2020, Castets joined the administration of mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, becoming an economic advisor. In October 2023, she was appointed by Hidalgo to serve as Director of Finance and Purchasing in Hidalgo's office.{{Cite web |date=23 July 2024 |title=French left picks Parisian Lucie Castets as PM candidate after days of bickering |url=https://www.politico.eu/article/lucie-castets-prime-minister-candidate-france-nfp-new-popular-front-leftist-alliance/ |access-date=23 July 2024 |website=POLITICO |language=en-GB}}{{Cite news |date=23 July 2024 |title=Macron says no new government until 'mid-August,' declining left-wing proposal for PM |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2024/07/23/french-left-wing-alliance-proposes-lucie-castets-as-candidate-for-prime-minister_6695705_7.html |access-date=23 July 2024 |work=Le Monde.fr |language=en}}

Academic career

Between 2014 and 2017, Castets was a lecturer of economics at Sciences Po. In 2022, she became a part-time associate professor of economics at Paris Dauphine University, and has also been published in the journal Alternatives économiques.

Political career

Castets was a member of the Socialist Party between 2008 and 2011, when she was a supporter of Martine Aubry and the Union of the Left. She has worked for the Besoin de gauche movement for Pierre Moscovici and for the Point d'ancrage think tank.{{cite web |title=Qui est Lucie Castets, proposée par le Nouveau Front populaire pour le poste de Première ministre ? |url=https://www.francetvinfo.fr/politique/nouveau-front-populaire/qui-est-lucie-castets-proposee-par-le-nouveau-front-populaire-pour-le-poste-de-premiere-ministre_6683697.html |work=France Info |date=24 July 2024}}{{cite web |title=Promotion Jean Zay (2012 - 2013) |url=https://www.ena.fr/content/download/3137/50036/version/1/file/eleves-promotion-JEAN-ZAY-2012-2013.pdf |publisher=ENA}} Castets entered elected politics for the first time after being selected to stand as a candidate for the Socialist Party in the 2015 regional election in Normandy, although she was not elected.{{cite web |first=François |last=Blanchard |title=Haute fonctionnaire, ex-conseillère d'Hidalgo : qui est Lucie Castets, la candidate au poste de Première ministre du NFP ? |url=https://www.bfmtv.com/politique/haute-fonctionnaire-ex-conseillere-d-hidalgo-qui-est-lucie-castets-la-candidate-au-poste-de-premiere-ministre-du-nfp_AV-202407230680.html |work=BFM TV |date=23 July 2024}}{{cite web |first=Benoît |last=Lascoux |title=Seulement deux sortants sur la liste PS |url=https://www.ouest-france.fr/normandie/seulement-deux-sortants-sur-la-liste-ps-3757243 |work=Ouest-France |date=9 October 2015}}{{cite web |first=Emile |last=Fouda |title=Régionales: la liste des candidats socialistes du Calvados présentés par les présidents de Haute et Basse-Normandie |url=https://actu.fr/normandie/caen_14118/regionales-la-liste-des-candidats-socialistes-du-calvados-presentes-par-les-presidents-de-haute-et-basse-normandie_3223729.html |website=actu.fr |date=9 October 2015}}

Castets left the Socialist Party in 2011, due to disagreements with the political direction that François Hollande took the party.{{cite web |first=Pierre |last=Lepelletier |title=Matignon : avec Lucie Castets, le Nouveau Front populaire choisit une haute fonctionnaire comme « première-ministrable » |url=https://www.lefigaro.fr/elections/legislatives/matignon-avec-lucie-castets-le-nouveau-front-populaire-choisit-une-haute-fonctionnaire-comme-premiere-ministrable-20240723 |work=Le Figaro |date=23 July 2024}} However, she remained affiliated with the party and participated in the campaign of Anne Hidalgo during the 2022 presidential election, also becoming closer to Clémentine Autain.

In 2021, Castets cofounded the Nos services publics collective, which seeks to "highlight dysfunctions and make proposals" to improve public services in France. She received public attention in 2022, when she questioned Stanislas Guerini on the television program Ce soir about the unwarranted use of consulting firms.{{cite news |last=Valat |first=Hadrien |date=23 July 2024 |title=Pour Matignon, la surprise du NFP avec Lucie Castets |url=https://www.lesechos.fr/politique-societe/politique/pour-matignon-la-surprise-du-nfp-avec-lucie-castets-2109743 |newspaper=Les Echos |lang=fr}}

=Prime ministerial nomination=

In July 2024, Castets was nominated by the New Popular Front as their candidate for prime minister of France, in the aftermath of the 2024 legislative election in which the NFP won the most seats but not a majority. {{Cite web |date=23 July 2024 |title=French left bloc New Popular Front agrees to propose Lucie Castets for prime minister |url=https://www.france24.com/en/france/20240723-french-leftist-bloc-new-popular-front-agrees-to-propose-lucie-castets-as-prime-minister |access-date=23 July 2024 |website=France 24 |language=en}} Following her nomination, Castets said that her political priorities were reversing the pension reform by Emmanuel Macron, a tax reform to make sure that "all pay their fair share", and to improve purchasing power by raising salaries and social benefit payments.{{Cite web |date=23 July 2024 |title=La gauche propose Lucie Castets pour Matignon, Emmanuel Macron dit qu'il ne nommera personne avant mi-août |url=https://www.rts.ch/info/monde/2024/article/la-gauche-propose-lucie-castets-pour-matignon-emmanuel-macron-dit-qu-il-ne-nommera-personne-avant-mi-aout-28578511.html |access-date=23 July 2024 |website=rts.ch |language=fr}}

Macron dismissed her nomination, initially saying that he would not make any decisions before the end of the 2024 Summer Olympics and that "the question is not a name", but which governmental majority would be formed in the National Assembly.{{cite web |first=Aurelien |last=Breeden |title=Macron Rejects French Left's Pick for Prime Minister |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/23/world/europe/france-macron-left-wing-prime-minister.html |work=New York Times |date=23 July 2024}}{{Cite web |date=23 July 2024 |title=« La question n'est pas un nom », Macron esquive l'idée Lucie Castets soufflée par le NFP |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.fr/politique/article/lucie-castets-a-matignon-emmanuel-macron-estime-que-la-question-n-est-pas-un-nom_237336.html |access-date=23 July 2024 |website=Le HuffPost |language=fr}} Castets rejected forming a coalition with Macron's Ensemble group due to what she said were profound disagreements, and urged Macron to accept her nomination.{{cite web |first1=Margaux |last1=Duguet |first2=Louis |last2=Dubar |title=Nouvelle Assemblée nationale : Lucie Castets juge "impossible" une "coalition avec le camp présidentiel du fait de désaccords profonds" |url=https://www.francetvinfo.fr/politique/parlement-francais/assemblee-nationale/dissolution/direct-nouvelle-assemblee-nationale-la-gauche-indignee-apres-la-fin-de-non-recevoir-d-emmanuel-macron-de-nommer-lucie-castets-la-candidate-du-nfp-a-matignon_6683643.html |work=France Info |date=24 July 2024}}{{cite web |first=Simon |last=Le Baron |title=Lucie Castets : "Je demande au Président de prendre ses responsabilités et de me nommer Première ministre" |url=https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceinter/podcasts/l-invite-de-8h20-le-grand-entretien/l-invite-de-8h20-le-grand-entretien-du-mercredi-24-juillet-2024-6495550 |work=France Inter |date=24 July 2024}} The president declined to appoint Castets again in late August because other parties said that they would topple a NFP minority government,{{Cite web |url=https://www.france24.com/en/france/20240826-macron-far-right-leader-le-pen-pressure-mounts-name-new-prime-minister |title=Macron rules out naming left-wing PM, extends talks to end deadlock |date=26 August 2024 |website=France 24}} and in September appointed Michel Barnier of Les Républicains instead.

Personal life

Castets is married to a woman and they have a child.{{Cite web |last=Alemagna |first=Lilian |title=Dévoilant son projet politique et sa vie privée, Lucie Castets relance sa campagne médiatique |url=https://www.liberation.fr/politique/elections/je-souhaite-proteger-ma-famille-ma-femme-et-notre-enfant-lucie-castets-leve-un-coin-du-voile-sur-sa-vie-privee-dans-paris-match-20240806_D7PKFXDRS5D7NNLR4PCCR44OJA/ |access-date=7 August 2024 |website=Libération |language=fr}} She played tennis for about ten years,{{Cite web |date=7 August 2024 |title=« Bien dans ses baskets », Lucie Castets veut protéger sa femme et son enfant |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.fr/politique/article/lucie-castets-veut-proteger-sa-femme-et-son-enfant-pendant-sa-campagne-pour-matingon_238060.html |access-date=7 August 2024 |website=Le HuffPost |language=fr}} and served as ball girl at the French Open at the age of 15.{{Cite web |date=25 July 2024 |title=À 15 ans, Lucie Castets ramassait déjà les balles perdues... à Roland-Garros |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.fr/politique/article/quand-lucie-castets-la-candidate-du-nfp-pour-matignon-etait-ramasseuse-de-balles-a-roland-garros_237424.html |access-date=7 August 2024 |website=Le HuffPost |language=fr}}