French President Francois Hollande appointed a close friend and former European affairs minister to the strategic post of his chief of staff on Wednesday and reshuffled his private office to tighten the country's relations with Brussels, reports Reuters.
The nomination of Jean-Pierre Jouyet as secretary-general of the presidency was also designed to ensure better coordination with the government of new Prime Minister Manuel Valls, Hollande told the daily Le Monde.
Separately, Valls appointed Socialist Party Secretary Harlem Desir to run the European Affairs ministry. It was the first government post for Desir, 54, who has struggled during his 18 months at the helm of the Socialist Party to hold back dissent. He has been a member of European Parliament since 1999.
The Socialists lost local elections last month, where low turnout and the success of the far-right party were seen as a rejection of the party's policies. The losses prompted Hollande to name Valls, the popular interior minister, as prime minister.
France's relations with the EU are set to enter a tense new phase, with Hollande and other ministers signaling they want to discuss with Brussels French commitments on public deficit, which Paris has repeatedly failed to bring within EU targets.
Jouyet, 60, director-general of the state-owned bank Caisse des Depots (CDC), is a well-connected political operator with deep European experience. The Catholic social democrat was a senior aide to former European Commission President Jacques Delors and former Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin.
But his acceptance of a role in conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy's government in 2007 as minister for European affairs is still considered a betrayal by some on the Left.
That prompted Hollande to exclude Jouyet, his class-mate at France's Ecole Nationale d'Administration civil service college, from his initial line-up in 2012. But a source close to the president said: "They are very old friends and it's not just European affairs that spurred his appointment."
Read more of this report from Reuters.