Foreign minister Laurent Fabius of France said on Wednesday that he was leaving his post after nearly four years, a widely expected departure and a prelude to a coming cabinet reshuffle, reports The New York Times.
Mr. Fabius, 69, a government veteran and a former prime minister - France’s youngest, in the mid-1980s - announced the news to reporters in an offhanded way as he left a cabinet meeting at the Élysée Palace here, telling colleagues the meeting would be his last.
“We did good work, and France can be proud,” he said.
As foreign minister since May 2012, Mr. Fabius has presided over some major foreign policy challenges at a time when his country has arguably become the United States’ principal military ally in the fight against Islamic extremism.
He helped push through the nuclear accord with Iran, notably holding out for tough conditions against the Iranians. And he presided over the Paris climate change conference last year, making it a personal mission to negotiate an accord on global warming among fractious and disputing nations
France’s activist foreign policy under his watch has also included several military interventions, notably in Africa - in Mali to combat Islamic extremists and in the Central African Republic to quell violent unrest after the country’s longtime leader was toppled.
On Wednesday, Mr. Fabius reiterated his longstanding criticism of Washington’s Syria policy, calling it “ambiguous” and denouncing an absence of “very strong commitment,” according to Reuters. The United States’ decision not to strike President Bashar al-Assad in the fall of 2013 after he used chemical weapons against his own people - when France was ready to do so - remains a sore point between the two countries.
Atrocities against civilians by the Syrian government appeared to be a preoccupation for Mr. Fabius, and some politicians in the French opposition criticized him for refusing to negotiate with the embattled Syrian leader.
President François Hollande said on Wednesday that he would nominate Mr. Fabius to lead the Constitutional Council, the highest constitutional court.