New government in Paris
Macron relies on a woman in the foreign office
May 20, 2022, 9:38 p.m
In future, France will be represented abroad by Foreign Minister Colanna. A few weeks before the parliamentary elections, President Macron, who has just been re-elected, is presenting his government team. The Ministry of Defense will also be reshuffled.
France has a new government three weeks before the parliamentary elections. In the midst of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, both the foreign and defense ministries were reshuffled. to the new one foreign minister President Emmanuel Macron appointed the previous ambassador to London, Catherine Colonna. She is only the second woman to head the French foreign ministry. She was previously, among other things, spokeswoman for President Jacques Chirac and ambassador in Rome.
News Secretary of Defense becomes 35-year-old Sébastien Lecornu. He was previously responsible for overseas territories. He replaces Florence Parly – a demanding post amid the Ukraine war, in which France is supplying arms to Kyiv and wants to lead the NATO operation in Ukraine’s neighboring country Romania.
the for responsible for Europe Secretary of State Clément Beaune retains his portfolio but is promoted to Minister. As the colleague of the Green Minister of State Anna Lührmann, he was previously also responsible for Franco-German relations and played a key role in shaping Macron’s European policy.
The cabinet also includes several politicians with a migration background: These include Minister of Culture Rima Abdul Malak, who spent her childhood in Lebanon. Minister of Education Pap Ndiaye, on the other hand, is a historian with Senegalese roots and specializes in minority history.
That Ministry of Environment will be restructured: the previous Minister for Public Service, Amélie de Montchalin, will be responsible for environmental policy in the future. Agnès Pannier-Runacher, previously Industry Minister, is to take care of the energy transition. The already appointed on Tuesday prime minister However, Elisabeth Borne gets the authority to set guidelines for environmental policy.
Some government heavyweights remain in their posts, notably Economy Minister Bruno LeMaire, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin and Minister of Justice Eric Dupond Moretti. The 43-year-old Olivier Dussopt is supposed to take care of the pension reform Ministry of Labour takes over. He belongs to a left-wing splinter party. The former parliamentary group leader of the Republicans Daniel Abad comes into the cabinet as a defector from the right. He became the Minister of Solidarity appointed.
Critique of Mélenchon and Le Pen
The opposition criticized the cabinet reshuffle. “A right-wing government that makes fun of the environment and social issues,” wrote Green Party leader Julien Bayou on Twitter. According to right-wing populist Marine Le Pen, the new government represents “Macron’s incompetence and arrogance”. All those who failed retained their positions, she explained. Left-wing populist Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who had put himself forward as prime minister, was convinced that the government would be completely reshuffled after the parliamentary elections. “The majority in parliament will change in a month,” he declared with confidence, which, however, cannot be deduced from the polls.
Macron, who was re-elected about four weeks ago, wanted to appoint a new government to send a signal for a new political start with a view to the parliamentary elections. It is expected that the cabinet will be expanded after the general election on June 12th and 19th.
The new government team has nine ministers, eight women ministers and one prime minister. There are also ten associate ministers and state secretaries, five male and five female.