France’s Macron Appoints New Government for 2nd Term

French President Emmanuel Macron poses in his office during a meeting with Moldovan President Maia Sandu at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France May 19, 2022. (Reuters)
French President Emmanuel Macron poses in his office during a meeting with Moldovan President Maia Sandu at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France May 19, 2022. (Reuters)
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France’s Macron Appoints New Government for 2nd Term

French President Emmanuel Macron poses in his office during a meeting with Moldovan President Maia Sandu at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France May 19, 2022. (Reuters)
French President Emmanuel Macron poses in his office during a meeting with Moldovan President Maia Sandu at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France May 19, 2022. (Reuters)

French President Emmanuel Macron announced a new-look Cabinet on Friday, with a new foreign minister part of the reshuffled line-up behind France’s first female prime minister in 30 years.

Three senior ministers - Gérald Darmanin at the interior ministry, Bruno Le Maire for economics and Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti - all survived the extensive shake-up for re-elected Macron's second term.

Catherine Colonna, a career diplomat and, most recently, France’s ambassador to Britain, takes over the foreign affairs portfolio as France is deeply engaged in international efforts to support Ukraine against Russia’s invasion and isolate the Kremlin.

Led by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, who was named Monday, the Cabinet’s top priority will be trying to secure the parliamentary majority that Macron needs to implement the policy proposals that the centrist campaigned on in last month’s presidential election.

France's parliamentary election to determine seats in the National Assembly is being held over two rounds of voting in June and parties on both the far-left and the far-right are trying to reduce Macron’s centrist majority.

The Cabinet appointments were announced by Macron’s office in a statement read aloud by an aide on the stairs of the presidential Elysee Palace, in keeping with tradition.

Black French scholar Pap Ndiaye, an expert on US minority rights movements, was named France's new education minister. Ndiaye was previously in charge of France’s state-run immigration museum.

In an Associated Press interview last year, Ndiaye said France has to fight racial justice by confronting its often-violent colonial past, noting that "the French are highly reluctant to look at the dark dimensions of their own history."

Colonna replaces Jean-Yves Le Drian, Macron’s foreign minister throughout his first term. She is the first woman to head the Quai d’Orsay, the plush headquarters of French diplomacy on the banks of the Seine River, since Michèle Alliot-Marie’s short stint as foreign minister ended in February 2011.

The new government also has a new spokesperson, Olivia Grégoire. The former junior minister replaces Gabriel Attal and will be one of the administration’s most visible members.

The core cabinet of Borne and 17 ministers is evenly split between men and women. One of the new additions, Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, is also minister of the Olympic Games and the Paralympics, a new title ahead of the 2024 Summer Games in Paris.



White House's Sullivan: Weakened Iran Could Pursue Nuclear Weapon

FILE PHOTO: Iranian flag flies in front of the UN office building, housing IAEA headquarters, in Vienna, Austria, May 24, 2021. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Iranian flag flies in front of the UN office building, housing IAEA headquarters, in Vienna, Austria, May 24, 2021. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner/File Photo
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White House's Sullivan: Weakened Iran Could Pursue Nuclear Weapon

FILE PHOTO: Iranian flag flies in front of the UN office building, housing IAEA headquarters, in Vienna, Austria, May 24, 2021. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Iranian flag flies in front of the UN office building, housing IAEA headquarters, in Vienna, Austria, May 24, 2021. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner/File Photo

The Biden administration is concerned that a weakened Iran could build a nuclear weapon, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday, adding that he was briefing President-elect Donald Trump's team on the risk.
Iran has suffered setbacks to its regional influence after Israel's assaults on its allies, Palestinian Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah, followed by the fall of Iran-aligned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Israeli strikes on Iranian facilities, including missile factories and air defenses, have reduced Tehran's conventional military capabilities, Sullivan told CNN.
"It's no wonder there are voices (in Iran) saying, 'Hey, maybe we need to go for a nuclear weapon right now ... Maybe we have to revisit our nuclear doctrine'," Sullivan said.
Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful, but it has expanded uranium enrichment since Trump, in his 2017-2021 presidential term, pulled out of a deal between Tehran and world powers that put restrictions on Iran's nuclear activity in exchange for sanctions relief.
Sullivan said that there was a risk that Iran might abandon its promise not to build nuclear weapons.
"It's a risk we are trying to be vigilant about now. It's a risk that I'm personally briefing the incoming team on," Sullivan said, adding that he had also consulted with US ally Israel.
Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, could return to his hardline Iran policy by stepping up sanctions on Iran's oil industry. Sullivan said Trump would have an opportunity to pursue diplomacy with Tehran, given Iran's "weakened state."
"Maybe he can come around this time, with the situation Iran finds itself in, and actually deliver a nuclear deal that curbs Iran's nuclear ambitions for the long term," he said.