France’s Macron to shuffle ministers after win Explosive-laden car rams police vehicle in Paris
President’s party takes big Assembly majority
PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron is poised to rearrange his Cabinet after his new centrist party engineered a landslide in the country’s parliamentary election, enabling the government to quickly start passing its first big laws.
Prime Minister Edouard Philippe formally resigned on Monday afternoon, a largely symbolic move required after a legislative election. He was immediately renamed to his job and is in charge of forming a government by Wednesday afternoon, the French presidency said in a statement.
Since Macron’s new party, Republic on the Move!, won an absolute majority in the 577-seat National Assembly, government spokesman Christophe Castaner said on RTL radio the government reshuffle would be “technical and not far-reaching.” He refused to say whether ministers who have come under suspicion of corruption would keep their jobs.
Macron’s plans have been slightly delayed by an attempted attack Monday afternoon on security forces on the Champs-elysees in Paris.
After Macron vigorously campaigned on a promise to renew France’s political landscape, other parties also made efforts to promote new faces. The victorious newcomers started arriving Monday at the National Assembly to learn their way around before the first parliament session next week.
The National Assembly says new lawmakers’ average age is down from 55 in the previous term to 49 now. The youngest is 23, the oldest 79. The number of female lawmakers is the highest ever in France’s lower house of parliament, reaching 38.7 percent — up from 26.8 percent. Three-quarters are starting their first term at the National Assembly. Some previously had local political experience, but many are newcomers
PARIS — A man on the radar of French authorities was killed Monday after ramming a car carrying explosives into a police vehicle in the capital’s Champselysees shopping district, prompting a fiery blast, officials said. France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor opened an investigation.
No police officers or passers-by were hurt, the Paris police department said. It is unclear why the attacker drove into police, though officials said the incident was apparently deliberate.
Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said the man was killed after an attempted attack on a police convoy, saying that shows the threat is still very high in the country and justifies a state of emergency in place since 2015. He said he will present a bill Wednesday at a Cabinet meeting to extend the state of emergency from July 15, its current expiration date, until Nov. 1.
He says the current situation in France shows a new security law “is needed” and the measure would “maintain a high security level.”
Two police officials told The Associated Press that a handgun was found on the driver, who they said was badly burned after the vehicle exploded. They identified the man as a 31-year-old man from the Paris suburb of Argenteuil who had an “S” file, meaning he was flagged for links to extremism. to politics.
Republic on the Move! and its allies from the Modem party took 350 seats — far more than the 289 needed for a majority, according to the Interior Ministry’s definitive results.