Factbox-Key ministers in France’s new government line-up By Reuters

PARIS (Reuters) – Here are the details of the main ministerial appointments after French President Emmanuel Macron’s office on Saturday unveiled the new cabinet that will report to Prime Minister Michel Barnier:

ANTOINE ARMAND, MINISTER OF FINANCE

A relative newcomer to politics, Armand, 33, was first elected to parliament in 2022 on Macron’s centrist ticket and was re-elected in July’s snap legislative election.

In the new parliament, he had been set to head the lower house’s economic committee until Barnier tapped him for the top job at the powerful Ministry of Economy and Finance.

No stranger to “Bercy”, as the ministry is often called in France, Armand joined its elite corps of finance inspectors after graduating in 2018 from the prestigious Ecole Nationale d’Administration – a training college for future civil servants tall, followed by Macron. .

He will be deputized by Laurent Saint-Martin on budget matters, a sensitive portfolio that will report directly to the prime minister, as France struggles to contain a growing budget deficit and considers spending cuts and tax hikes.

BRUNO RETAILLEAU, MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR

Conservative senator since 2004, Bruno Retailleau, 63, is known for his far-right views and is the most senior figure in his Republicans (LR) party to join Barnier’s government.

Retaileau has been a driving force behind the party’s rightward shift in an increasingly polarized political landscape, particularly on hot-button issues like immigration.

As leader of the conservative group of senators, Retailleau criticized Macron’s latest attempts to tighten immigration rules, calling for a much tougher stance that would include constitutional changes that would allow cuts to welfare benefits.

He also called for a tougher police force against left-wing and environmental protesters and opposed Macron’s push to add women’s right to abortion to the constitution.

JEAN-NOEL BARROT, Foreign Minister

Barrot, 41, is promoted to foreign minister after serving as junior minister for European affairs from February 2024. He was previously Macron’s digital affairs minister.

Barrot comes from a family with a strong political background. His father, Jacques Barrot, was a prominent French politician who held various ministerial positions and as a European Commissioner.

He provides a key political balance to the government, coming from the centrist party of Francois Bayrou, the political veteran whose independent MoDem party Macron needs to keep on his side.

BENJAMIN HADDAD, MINISTER OF EUROPE

Haddad, 38, a fluent English speaker with excellent contacts in Washington, DC, where he spent years working at a think tank, was first elected to parliament in 2022 under his party’s Macron.

He spoke out on diplomatic issues and in particular on the war in Ukraine after he persuaded dozens of European lawmakers to sign a request to the US Congress to unblock aid to Ukraine at the end of 2023.

SEBASTIEN LECORNU, MINISTER OF DEFENSE

Lecornu, a Macron loyalist, remains in his post at the helm of the Defense Ministry.

A low-profile minister who began his career in conservative ranks, he was ousted from the Republican ranks after being appointed as a junior minister in Macron’s government in 2017.