Elisabeth Borne Appointed France’s New Prime Minister

France's Labor Minister Elisabeth Borne leaves after the weekly cabinet meeting, at the Elysee Palace, in Paris, Wednesday, May 11, 2022. (AP)
France's Labor Minister Elisabeth Borne leaves after the weekly cabinet meeting, at the Elysee Palace, in Paris, Wednesday, May 11, 2022. (AP)
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Elisabeth Borne Appointed France’s New Prime Minister

France's Labor Minister Elisabeth Borne leaves after the weekly cabinet meeting, at the Elysee Palace, in Paris, Wednesday, May 11, 2022. (AP)
France's Labor Minister Elisabeth Borne leaves after the weekly cabinet meeting, at the Elysee Palace, in Paris, Wednesday, May 11, 2022. (AP)

Elisabeth Borne was appointed France's new prime minister on Monday to become the second woman to hold the post in the country.

Borne, 61, succeeds Jean Castex, whose resignation was expected after President Emmanuel Macron’s reelection last month.

Macron and Borne are expected to appoint the full government in the coming days.

Borne is the second woman to hold the position after Edith Cresson, who was prime minister in 1991-1992 under Socialist President Francois Mitterrand.

She has served as Labor Minister in Macron’s previous government since 2020. Before that, she was transport minister and then minister of ecological Transition, also under Macron.

Castex came to the Elysee presidential palace on Monday to formally offer his resignation, which the president "accepted,” the Elysee said in a statement.

In France, it's common for presidents to have more than one prime minister during their terms.

The new prime minister’s first mission will be to make sure that Macron’s centrist party and its allies do well in France's parliamentary election in June. The vote, scheduled for two rounds, will determine which group holds the majority of seats at the National Assembly, which has the final say over the Senate in France's law-making process.

Macron also promised a bill addressing the rising cost of living in France, where food and energy prices are surging. It will be prepared by his new government and is expected to be presented just after the parliamentary election.

If Macron’s party wins a majority in the Assembly, the prime minister will then need to ensure that pension changes promised by the president are put into law, including raising the minimum retirement age from 62 to 65. The proposed changes have been criticized by workers, unions and left-wing voters.

Macron also promised that the new prime minister would be directly in charge of "green planning," seeking to accelerate France's implementation of climate-related policies. Macron vowed to go "twice as fast" in his second term to curb greenhouse gas emissions.



7 Dead, Dozens Injured after Commercial Bus Overturns in Mississippi

A tractor trailer dangles from a bridge on Interstate 75 near Tampa, Fla., early Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. (Florida Highway Patrol via AP)
A tractor trailer dangles from a bridge on Interstate 75 near Tampa, Fla., early Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. (Florida Highway Patrol via AP)
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7 Dead, Dozens Injured after Commercial Bus Overturns in Mississippi

A tractor trailer dangles from a bridge on Interstate 75 near Tampa, Fla., early Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. (Florida Highway Patrol via AP)
A tractor trailer dangles from a bridge on Interstate 75 near Tampa, Fla., early Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. (Florida Highway Patrol via AP)

Seven people, including a six-year-old and 16-year-old, were killed when a bus overturned east of Vicksburg, Mississippi, early Saturday, Warren County Coroner Doug Huskey said.
The two young victims were siblings, Reuters quoted the coroner as saying.
The Mississippi Highway Patrol said the incident took place around 12:40 a.m. on Interstate 20 near Bovina in Warren County when a 2018 Volvo commercial passenger bus traveling westbound left the roadway and overturned.
Thirty-seven passengers were transported to different hospitals with unknown injuries, the agency said. It said the co-driver was not transported.
"Anytime you have people injured or killed, it's tragic but when you have a situation like this where you have multiple fatalities and multiple injuries, it makes it even worse," Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace told an ABC affiliate.
Huskey said most of the passengers on the bus were Latin American.