Paris, May 20 (AFP/APP):French President Emmanuel Macron named new foreign and defence ministers on Friday as part of a government re-shuffle intended to create fresh momentum ahead of parliamentary elections next month.
France’s ambassador to London, Catherine Colonna, was picked as foreign minister, making her only the second woman to hold the prestigious job.
Sebastien Lecornu, former minister for overseas territories, was promoted to the defence ministry, Macron’s chief of staff Alexis Kohler announced at the presidential palace.
Macron decided to shuffle the portfolios despite the conflict in Ukraine, Europe’s biggest since World War II.
“It’s a government that is equal (in terms of gender) and balanced in terms of people who were already ministers and new figures,” Prime Minister Elizabeth Borne told reporters.
Macron needs a parliamentary majority in polls next month in order to push through his domestic reform agenda which includes welfare and pension changes, as well as tax cuts.
The biggest surprise came in the education ministry where renowned left-wing academic Pap Ndiaye, an expert on colonialism and race relations, will take over from right-winger Jean-Michel Blanquer.
Ndiaye first gained national prominence with his 2008 work “The Black Condition, an essay on a French minority” and is an outspoken critic of racism and discrimination.
In his first public comments, he acknowledged that he was “perhaps a symbol, one of meritocracy, but also perhaps of diversity”.
“I don’t take pride in it, but rather a sense of the duty and responsibilities which are now mine,” he said.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen called his elevation “the last step in the deconstruction of our country, its values and its future”.
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