New French government characterised by youth, centrism and loyalty to Hollande

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French president François Hollande: has gone from saying ‘finance is the enemy’ during the 2012 presidential campaign to espousing supply-side economics.

Lara Marlowe, Irish Times, Wed, Aug 27, 2014

France’s rebel finance minister Arnaud Montebourg was replaced yesterday in the new government by Emmanuel Macron (36), the outgoing deputy secretary general of the Élysée and a former banker at the Banque Rothschild.

Mr Macron’s appointment reconfirms Mr Macron is considered the architect of the “pact of competiveness” and the “pact of responsbility,” the business-friendly mainstays of Mr Hollande’s economic policy.

As the economic daily Les Échos noted, the government crisis created by Mr Montebourg’s rejection of what he considered to be French austerity policies “will have at least led to a clear economic line.”

Mr Macron’s appointment was characteristic of the promotion of newer, younger and loyal faces from the centre in the third government of Mr Hollande’s presidency. Women and ethnic minorities were also favoured.

Women ministers

The Franco-Moroccan outgoing minister for women’s rights, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem (36) was appointed France’s first female minister for education, responsible for the largest government budget and 15.3 million students and educators.

Fleur Pellerin (41), who was a junior minister for foreign trade and tourism, landed the prestigious culture ministry. Ms Pellerin was born in Korea, where she was abandoned in the street as an infant and adopted by a French couple.

Christiane Taubira, the French Guyanese minister of justice whose job was at risk due to her leftist leanings and spats with prime minister Manuel Valls, hung on to her job.

The socialist old-timers and government “heavyweights” Bernard Cazeneuve, Laurent Fabius, Jean-Yves Le Drian, Sebastien Le Foll, Ségolène Royal and Michel Sapin remain in the ministries of the interior, foreign affairs, defence, agriculture, ecology and finance.

more: http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/new-french-government-characterised-by-youth-centrism-and-loyalty-to-hollande-1.1908824