The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has named a group of relative unknowns to senior government cabinet posts over traditional allies after a series of high-profile resignations, reports The Guardian.
As a spokesman announced the names of ministers appointed, political analysts said many voters would be left asking: “Who?”
Four cabinet members have resigned this week after being put under preliminary investigation in two separate scandals, leaving Macron’s prime minister, Édouard Philippe, under pressure to find replacements while maintaining a pledge to maintain gender and party-political parity.
François Bayrou, president of the MoDem party, – allies of Macron’s La République en Marche – who stepped down on Wednesday, was replaced by Nicole Belloubet, a figure almost unknown to the wider public and the first woman nominated to France’s constitutional council.
Belloubet, a technocrat and legal expert from the left, is a former local and regional councillor in the Toulouse region.
Florence Parly, another high-ranking French civil servant and former business leader, was named defence minister. Parly served in the Socialist government of prime minister Lionel Jospin between 2000 and 2002. She later joined Air France as deputy general director, before moving to the state-run rail company SNCF.
Annick Girardin, a third, largely unknown junior minister who served in François Hollande’s Socialist government was named overseas minister.
Nathalie Loiseau, a French diplomat, was appointed European affairs minister.
Macron appeared to have ditched his centrist allies after two more high-profile government ministers resigned on Wednesday after a month in office.