PARIS (Reuters) – A seasoned diplomat, former minister and spokesperson for Jacques Chirac, French ambassador to the United Kingdom since 2019, Catherine Colonna is the second woman to head the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after Michèle Alliot-Marie’s short stint in 2010.
Before London, this 66-year-old enarque with an affable tone held various positions in Washington and Brussels before being appointed ambassador to Italy and representative of France to Unesco.
“Simple in human relations, hardworking and very demanding” according to a relative, she is best known for having been President Jacques Chirac’s spokesperson for international issues for nine years, from 1995 to 2004.
In 2005, she became Minister Delegate for European Affairs in the government of Dominique de Villepin, a position she held until 2007.
Catherine Colonna has made a few forays into the private sector, notably within the international financial communication firm Brunswick.
His appointment can be seen as a gesture of appeasement by Emmanuel Macron towards diplomats angered by the decision of the Head of State to suppress their historic body. Extremely rare, a strike call was launched for June 2 at the Quai d’Orsay, the second in the history of the ministry.
A decree published in mid-April sets the terms for the gradual “extinction”, by 2023, of the status of senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who will now be included in a larger pool of the civil service.
Catherine Colonna “will be appreciated”, thinks Jean de Gliniasty, former ambassador to Russia. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not in a good state psychologically.”
Catherine Colonna was Jacques Chirac’s spokesperson when France opposed the US-led war in Iraq. His recent experience in the United Kingdom will serve him to address the conflict in Ukraine, while London actively supports Kiyv.
She succeeds Jean-Yves Le Drian – Minister for ten years, first for Defense then for Foreign Affairs – and will work in close collaboration with the new Minister for the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, and the Minister Delegate for Europe, Clément Beaune.
(Report Elizabeth Pineau and John Irish, edited by Sophie Louet)