عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

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)
TT
TT

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.

Most Viewed

 
 
World

NKorea Leader: Longest ICBM Test 'Appropriate Military Action' against Enemies

FILE PHOTO: A Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile is launched during what North Korea says is a drill at an unknown location December 18, 2023 in this picture released by the Korean Central News Agency. KCNA via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: A Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile is launched during what North Korea says is a drill at an unknown location December 18, 2023 in this picture released by the Korean Central News Agency. KCNA via REUTERS
TT
TT

NKorea Leader: Longest ICBM Test 'Appropriate Military Action' against Enemies

FILE PHOTO: A Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile is launched during what North Korea says is a drill at an unknown location December 18, 2023 in this picture released by the Korean Central News Agency. KCNA via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: A Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile is launched during what North Korea says is a drill at an unknown location December 18, 2023 in this picture released by the Korean Central News Agency. KCNA via REUTERS

North Korea said it tested an intercontinental ballistic missile on Thursday, upgrading what it called the "world's most powerful strategic weapon,” as Seoul warned Pyongyang could get missile technology from Russia for helping with the war in Ukraine.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was on hand and said the test was a warning to enemies that have been threatening the country's security, KCNA state news agency said.
"The test-fire is an appropriate military action that fully meets the purpose of informing the rivals, who have intentionally escalated the regional situation and posed a threat to the security of our Republic recently, of our counteraction will," Kim was quoted as saying by KCNA.
The muscle-flexing comes amid a storm of international condemnation and rising alarm over what the U.S. and others say is North Korea's deployment of 11,000 troops to Russia - 3,000 of them close to the western frontlines with Ukraine.
The launch drew swift condemnation from South Korea, Japan and the United States.
A day earlier, Seoul reported signs the North may test-launch an ICBM or conduct a seventh nuclear test around the US presidential election on Tuesday, seeking to draw attention to its growing military prowess.
Shin Seung-ki, head of research on North Korea's military at the state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, said the launch was likely to test improved booster performance of an existing ICBM - possibly with the help of Russia.
"North Korea will want to keep getting help like this, because it saves times and costs while improving performance and upgrading the stability of weapons system," he said.
Having come under pressure over its engagement with Russia, "the intention may be to show that it will not bow to pressure, that it will respond to strength with strength, and also to seek some influence on the US presidential election," Shin added.

The launch early on Thursday was the longest ballistic missile test by the North with a flight-time of 87 minutes, according to South Korea.
KCNA said the test set new records of its missile capabilities.
The missile took off on a sharply lofted trajectory from an area near the North's capital and splashed down about 200 km west of Japan's Okushiri island, off Hokkaido.
It reached an altitude of 7,000 km and flew a distance of 1,000 km, the Japanese government said.

The so-called lofted trajectory of a projectile flying at a sharply raised angle is intended to test its thrust and stability over much shorter distances relative to the designed range, partly for safety and to avoid the political fallout of sending a missile far into the Pacific.

North Korea's last ICBM, dubbed the Hwasong-18, was tested in December last year. Fueled by solid-propellant and fired from a road launcher, it was also launched at a sharply raised angle and flew for 73 minutes, translating to a potential range of 15,000 km on a normal trajectory.
That is a distance that puts anywhere in the mainland United States within range.

Pyongyang's latest test came just hours after US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and his South Korean counterpart Kim Yong-hyun met in Washington to condemn the North Korean troop deployment in Russia.

Neither Moscow or Pyongyang have directly acknowledged the deployment, but Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia on Wednesday questioned why its allies like North Korea could not help Moscow in its war against Ukraine given Western countries claim the right to help Kyiv.

South Korea said the deployment was a direct threat to its security because the North would gain valuable combat experience in a modern warfare and it will likely be rewarded by Moscow with "technology transfers" in areas such as tactical nuclear weapons, ICBMs, ballistic missile submarines and military reconnaissance satellites.