Cabinet post for Hollande’s ex-partner
Print Edition
FRENCH President Francois Hollande yesterday recalled his ex-partner Segolene Royal from the political wilderness to join a new, streamlined government, days after his Socialist Party suffered an election drubbing.
Sunday’s stinging setback in nationwide municipal elections prompted Hollande to sack premier Jean-Marc Ayrault and replace him with tough-talking former interior minister Manuel Valls, 51.
The two wasted no time in radically reshaping the government, appointing two new faces in a Cabinet of just 16 ministers — less than half the 38 in the previous line-up — faced with the mammoth challenges of bringing down unemployment and boosting almost non-existent growth whilst operating in tough budget constraints.
Royal, Hollande’s ex-partner and mother of his four children, was named environment and energy minister in a spectacular return to mainstream politics for the woman who lost the 2007 presidential election to Nicolas Sarkozy.
“I am very honored,” she told France 3 television, pledging to work for economic recovery and jobs.
The 60-year-old is one of the Socialists’ biggest hitters but her inclusion in Hollande’s first Cabinet was reportedly blocked because of hostility from Valerie Trierweiler, the president’s then girlfriend.
That obstacle has now been removed following Hollande’s separation from Trierweiler in January in the aftermath of the revelation of his affair with actress Julie Gayet.
Finance and economy minister Pierre Moscovici was replaced by two contrasting politicians.
Former labour minister Michel Sapin, a supporter of budgetary rigour, was appointed finance minister, while left-wing firebrand Arnaud Montebourg was named economy minister.
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