Foreign minister Laurent Fabius steps down, to become constitutional court’s head
Fabius set to be next head of constitutional court
Veteran French politician Laurent Fabius bowed out of government Wednesday after a career spanning more than three decades that saw an early string of scandals but ended with his shepherding a complex climate deal as foreign minister.
Mr Fabius holds the distinction of being France’s youngest- ever Prime Minister, a post he took up at 37, and has remained a Socialist heavyweight, ending his career in the ornate hallways of the Quai d’Orsay as his country’s top diplomat.
Amiable and sometimes witty in person, the cerebral 69- year- old also has a reputation for being aloof.
Nevertheless, his experience made him a popular foreign minister with the French people, who largely saw him as a fitting representative abroad.
On Wednesday, President Francois Hollande nominated Mr Fabius to head France’s prestigious constitutional court, a post the outgoing foreign minister told reporters he would take up in March “if things go as planned”.
Segolene Royal, the high- profile environment minister and ex- partner of President Francois Hollande, is among the rumoured successors, but former Prime Minister Jean- Marc Ayrault is also believed to be in the frame.
As foreign minister since 2012, Mr Fabius helped to negotiate the Iran nuclear deal, as well as dealing with the thorny dossiers of the Syria conflict, and the growing threat of jihadism in western Africa, where French troops are deployed.
However, it is Mr Fabius’s final big project that is likely to shape his legacy: sealing a historic deal to save humankind from global warning.