• Wednesday, 03 July 2024

Macron leaves key French cabinet posts unchanged despite setback

Macron leaves key French cabinet posts unchanged despite setback
Paris, 4 July 2022 (dpa/MIA) – French President Emmanuel Macron left key ministers in post despite a major setback for his Renaissance party in last month's elections in presenting his new cabinet in Paris on Monday. Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne will continue to lead the government, with Bruno Le Maire remaining in charge at finance, Gérald Darmanin at interior affairs and Catherine Colonna at the foreign ministry. The new health minister is to be François Braun, who has come up with a crisis concept for the struggling health sector. The cabinet was set to meet on Monday for the first time. Macron embarks on his second term in office with his centre-left Renaissance having lost its overall majority in the National Assembly. While no coalition has been agreed, the president will have to rely on the support of other parties to pass legislation. His first objective is a large financial package to ease the effects of the current economic and inflationary crisis. While the other parties are unlikely to oppose this in principle, parts of the opposition believe the measures should go further than Macron's proposals. The conservative Républicains were offering support in implementing reforms, the Le Monde daily reported on Monday, with new party leader Olivier Marleix making clear in a letter to Borne that his party's proposals would have to be considered. As the third-largest opposition party ahead of the right-wing Rassemblement National and the left-wing NUPES alliance, the Républicains are in a position to provide a majority for Macron to pass his legislation.