New French Cabinet unveiled

PARIS, 20th May, 2022 (WAM) — The Élysée Palace has unveiled a revamped cabinet under new Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne, a month after President Emmanuel Macron’s re-election and a month before France’s crucial parliamentary polls. Macron drafted in Catherine Colonna, French ambassador to the UK, as his new foreign minister – while keeping Bruno Le Maire as finance minister and Gérald Darmanin as interior minister, according to France 24.

In terms of the biggest jobs, Macron is keeping on the centre-right Le Maire after he steered the French economy through the Covid-19 crisis – with a big task ahead as France grapples with the cost of living crisis racking most developed countries. Macron is also going for continuity at the interior ministry, maintaining right-winger Gérald Darmanin in the post.

Likewise, Eric Dupond-Moretti – formerly a famous defence lawyer loved and loathed for his pugnacious (and successful) style in court – remains Macron’s justice minister.

Arguably the biggest change when it comes to the top positions is replacing Jean-Yves Le Drian with Catherine Colonna at the Quai d’Orsay, the foreign ministry. A longstanding figure on the French centre-left, Le Drian had been a senior cabinet minister for an entire decade – spending five years as then president François Hollande’s defence minister, before Macron poached Le Drian from the Socialist party to make him his chief diplomat.

Here is the complete list of cabinet members:

-Bruno Le Maire as finance minister.

-Catherine Colonna as foreign minister.

-Gérald Darmanin as interior minister.

-Eric Dupond-Moretti as justice minister.

-Brigitte Bourguignon as health minister.

-Pap Ndiaye as education minister.

-Sébastien Lecornu as defence minister.

-Rima Abdul Malak as culture minister.

-Franck Riester as trade minister.

-Amélie de Montchalin as environment minister.

-Olivier Dussopt as labour minister.

-Agnès Pannier-Runacher as energy minister.

-Olivier Véran as minister for relations with parliament.

-Clément Beaune as Europe minister.

-Stanislas Guerini as minister for public service reform.

-Marc Fesneau as agriculture minister.

-Sylvie Retailleau as higher education minister.

-Olivia Grégoire as government spokeswoman.

-Gabriel Attal as minister of public accounts.

-Damien Abad as minister for the elderly, disabled and social care.

-Yaël Braun-Pivet as minister for overseas territories.

-Charlotte Caubel as children’s minister.

-Chrysoula Zacharopoulou as minister for international development and the Francophonie.

-Amélie Oudéa-Castéra as minister for sport and the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

-Isabelle Rome as minister for gender equality.

-Christophe Béchu as minister for regional cohesion.

-Justine Bénin as minister for the sea.