Macron faces bigger reshuffle
Four ministers facing investigations quit, forcing president to change cabinet
PARIS— French President Emmanuel Macron brought several littleknown figures into his government Wednesday as part of a reshuffle after corruption scandals started tarnishing his young cabinet.
Macron had planned to rearrange the government after his centrist party won a majority in parliamentary elections Sunday. He was forced to make more changes than expected because four ministers facing investigations announced this week they would step down.
Macron’s office announced Wednesday that Florence Parly, a former executive and budget official, would become the new defence minister after the previous defence chief, Sylvie Goulard, the highest-ranking woman in the five-week-old government, stepped down.
Parly was a junior minister in charge of the budget in a Socialist government from 2000 to 2002. Since then, she has worked at airline company Air France and national railway company SNCF.
Macron also named Nicole Belloubet, a legal expert and member of France’s constitutional Court, as justice minister after her predecessor, François Bayrou, was forced to quit earlier in the day. Bayrou, who was leading Macron’s crusade to purify politics, was forced to quit over cor- ruption allegations.
Other leading government members remained the same, including the foreign, finance and interior ministers. The new cabinet has 29 members, including 14 women. Centre-right Prime Minister Edouard Philippe remains at the head of the government.
Macron pledged during his presidential campaign to renew the French political landscape by naming a mix of politicians from the left and the right, as well as members of civil society without government experience on their resumes.