Two weeks after the defeat in the parliamentary elections, French President Emmanuel Macron reorganized his government team. However, he did not succeed in bringing representatives of the opposition parties into the cabinet, as can be seen from the list of government members published on Monday. Solidarity Minister Damien Abad, who was confronted with allegations of rape, is leaving the government.
Christophe Béchu, mayor of Angers and number two of the Horizons party, which is part of the governing majority, will be the new environment minister. Macron is giving the allies more space than before. It is the sixth environment minister that Macron has appointed since 2017 – and immediately met with criticism: “I can’t remember Christophe Béchu campaigning for environmental policy,” said Jean-François Julliard, head of Greenpeace in France.
Economic expert Laurence Boone, chief economist at the OECD and ex-economic adviser to President François Hollande, will be the new Minister for Europe. She will also be responsible for Franco-German relations and contact person for Minister of State Anna Lührmann.
Her predecessor Clément Beaune, who was often in the limelight during the French EU presidency, will become assistant minister for transport.
The new Minister of Health will be the doctor François Braun, who was last commissioned by Macron to write a report on emergency medical care. He will have to deal with the seventh wave of Corona, which is currently gaining momentum in France. So far, the government has refrained from taking any measures and has only called for people to wear masks on public transport voluntarily.
