France's fervently pro-European new president - who travelled to Berlin later to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel - has already won over dozens of moderate Socialist MPs. Former investment banker Macron, who trounced far-right leader Marine Le Pen in the May 7 presidential run-off, aims to take votes from both the Republicans and Socialists in next month's crucial parliamentary election.
Philippe has been presented as his Trojan horse on the right of the spectrum. Taking over from outgoing prime minister Bernard Cazeneuve during a short ceremony, Philippe described himself as "a man of the right" who was driven by "the greater good". Like Macron, Philippe is a product of France's elite ENA college who worked for a while in the private sector and has little truck with the country's fraying left-right divide.
Relatively unknown outside his northern fiefdom, he has never served in national government. After campaigning for Socialist prime minister Michel Rocard as a youth, he switched to the right, becoming a close ally of centre-right former prime minister Alain Juppe. Mayor of his hometown of Le Havre, the German-speaking father of three, who writes crime novels in his spare time, was elected to parliament in 2012.
Juppe on Monday praised him as "a very talented man". His appointment as premier is a blow to the Republicans, who have been trying to regroup after the presidential vote and prevent defections to Macron's camp. Republicans secretary-general Bernard Accoyer said there were no immediate plans to expel Philippe from the party but that he would have to "clear up the ambiguity" about his loyalties.
Some in the party have argued in favour of an alliance with Macron. Around 20 MPs on Monday issued a statement urging the Republicans and centre-right UDI to "accept his outstretched hand", saying the right needed to "take the full measure of the political transformation taking place before their eyes". Macron needs a majority to push through his ambitious plans to loosen France's strict labour laws, boost entrepreneurship and reduce class sizes in tough neighbourhoods.
But his year-old party faces a battle for seats, with the Republicans, Le Pen's National Front, the radical left and other losers of the presidential election all plotting revenge. Leftist firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon said that Philippe's appointment as premier showed the right had been "annexed" by the tentacular Macron. At his inauguration on Sunday, Macron said he aimed to restore France's shattered self-confidence and help rebuild the flagging European Union.
The talks with Merkel are likely to focus on how Europe's power couple can drive reforms of the bloc, with Macron pushing for deeper EU ties to help it overcome the imminent departure of Britain. Later this month, he will also meet Donald Trump, when the US president - believed to have preferred Le Pen to Macron - visits Brussels for a Nato summit.
Merkel has hailed Macron's win as a blow for populism. But the Frenchman's calls for the eurozone to have its own budget have received a cool response from Germany, which fears it would be forced to pay the lion's share. "Many countries including France would need to organise a referendum. It's not realistic," German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told Le Figaro newspaper.
French MEP Sylvie Goulard, an ally of Macron who has close ties to Berlin, predicted he would avoid causing any tensions with Germany. "There will be no arm-wrestling," she said. Breathing new life into the EU is just one of a host of challenges Macron faces. On the home front, he will have to work quickly to tackle stubbornly high unemployment, combat the jihadist threat and heal divisions exposed by an often vicious election campaign.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2017