Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne (left) and President Emmanuel Macron before a meeting at the Elysée Palace in Paris on July 19, 2023 afp_tickers
This content was published on July 20, 2023 – 2:23 p.m. Jul 20, 2023 – 2:23 p.m
(AFP)
French President Emmanuel Macron reshuffled his government on Thursday, looking for fresh impetus after the year was marked by massive protests against his pension reforms and outbreaks of late-night rioting.
Pending the official announcement, the most notable changes are the departure from civil society of the ministers he appointed in 2022 and that of Foreign Minister Marlène Schiappa, who caused controversy after she posed – dressed – for Playboy magazine, multiple sources told AFP .
Respected historian and minority specialist Pap Ndiaye, one of the president’s star arrivals in 2022, will leave the education ministry and be handed over to Gabriel Attal, who has been in charge of public finances.
Aurélien Rousseau, former chief of staff to Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne, will take over health care, replacing doctor François Braun, and pro-government leader in the National Assembly, Aurore Bergé, will inherit solidarities from Jean-Christophe Combe, former director-general of the Red Cross in France .
With these changes, just over a year after his re-election, Macron is strengthening his government’s political image in a tenure in which he lacks an absolute majority and in which the right-wing opposition has become his mainstay.
With less than a year to go before the May European elections, the ruling party is also trying to stem the rise of the far right.
His next struggles are a “political reorganization” around ecology and his immigration reform, which “must not be in the hands of the opposition,” the centrist president told officials the day before.
The riots that broke out in France at the end of June after the death of a young man shot dead by police delayed the restructuring, which had gained momentum after the attrition caused by controversial pension reforms.
On Monday, President Borne was already confirmed in office, although according to an Elabe poll published on Wednesday, 56% of French people consider her a bad prime minister.
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