France's new left-wing President Francois Hollande and his Socialist Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault unveiled the country's new Cabinet on Wednesday, with Pierre Moscovici as Finance Minister and former Premier Laurent Fabius as the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Notably, Martine Aubry, Hollande's former party rival and one of the Socialist Party's most experienced woman leaders, was not in the 34-member Cabinet. She is reported to have refused to take up any Cabinet post other than that of the Prime Minister.
With their new Cabinet, Hollande and Ayrault appear to have taken efforts to satisfy all sections of the French society as well as their political allies. Seventeen of the available ministerial positions were given to women, including the portfolios of Justice, Culture, Ecology and Sports.
Hollande had named Ayrault as his Prime Minister shortly after being sworn into office on Tuesday. Incidentally, neither Hollande or Ayrault have never held a ministerial position in the French government until now.
All the Cabinet positions announced on Wednesday appear to have been distributed evenly between southerners and northerners, old and new-comers, as well as left-wingers and right-wingers. Some of the ministerial berths were awarded to personal friends and party stalwarts.
The new Finance Minister Moscovici was Hollande's campaign manager in the recent presidential run-off in which he (Holland) defeated his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy. Moscovici, reputed to be a moderate, had earlier served as a European Affairs Minister and is said to be very influential in Brussels. He now faces the challenge of bringing France's widening deficit to three percent of the GDP by 2013, a promise made by Hollande in his election manifesto.
The new Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, a strong critic of EU's economic policies, was France's youngest-ever prime minister back in the 1980s. His appointment has caused concerns among EU supporters as he had campaigned against the European Constitutional Treaty in 2005.
While Jean-Yves Le Drian, a 64-year-old local politician from Brittany, was named Defense Minister in the new Cabinet, the post of Interior Minister went to Manuel Valls-- a moderate within the Socialist Party who had earlier refused a ministerial position in Sarkozy's government.
Arnaud Montebourg from the left wing of the Socialist Party was named the Minister for Growth and Industry, while Christiane Taubira, an MP from French Guiana, became the new Justice Minister. Moroccan-born Najat Vallaud-Belkacem was given the portfolio of Minister for Women's Rights and was also named the government spokeswoman.
Nicole Bricq was named the Ecology Minister, while Marisol Touraine was appointed Social Affairs Minister. Aurelie Filippetti is the Culture Minister in the new Cabinet as Genevieve Fioraso was given charge of Higher Education. Michel Sapin was made the Labor Minister.
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