France: Macron unveils politically diverse cabinet

By Hajer M'tiri

PARIS (AA) - French President Emmanuel Macron has unveiled on Wednesday a diverse cabinet line-up of 11 men and 11 women as was promised during his campaign.

Alexis Kohler, the newly appointed Elysee secretary general, presented the politically eclectic list of ministers in Paris on Wednesday afternoon.

Macron had pledged to form a gender-equal government with both left and right-wing tendencies represented, and with one third coming from the civil society.

The biggest surprise was the appointment of television star and environmentalist Nicolas Hulot as ecology minister. Both former presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande had previously failed to convince him to join their respective governments.

Jean-Yves Le Drian, who was Socialist President Francois Hollande's defense minister for five years, becomes foreign minister.

Gerard Collomb, the Socialist mayor of Lyon, has been named interior minister. He was one of the first to support Macron when he left the government and launched his own political movement En Marche! Back in April 2016.

Centrist Francois Bayrou, leader of the Democratic Movement Party, became justice minister. Once Macron's potential rival for the centrist vote, he endorsed the would-be president during the campaign in February, providing him with a noticeable boost in the polls..

Sylvie Goulard, a centrist member of the European Parliament close to Bayrou, becomes France's defense minister. She was an advisor of former European Commission president Romano Prodi.

Bruno Le Maire, candidate in last years primaries organized by the conservative The Republicans party, has become economy minister.

Another conservative Gerald Darmanin, was appointed budget minister.

In addition, Richard Ferrand, secretary general of Macron’s La Republique En Marche! (LREM, The republic on the Move) was named minister of territorial cohesion.

The announcement was initially scheduled for Tuesday but was postponed, in order for the state watchdog to carry out background checks into the tax affairs of the ministers.

On Monday, the president named Edouard Philippe, conservative lawmaker from the Republicans party, as his prime minister.

The 46-year-old MP and mayor of the northern port city of Le Havre since 2010, is close to Alain Juppe, the former prime minister and presidential candidate.

The first ministerial cabinet meeting will be held on Thursday at 11 a.m. local time (0900GMT).