Hollande puts economy in hands of ex-banker, 36

The French President revealed on Tuesday the names of the ministers in his new government tasked with pushing through crucial reforms. The key role of Economy Minister went to former banker and key Hollande ally, Emmanuel Macron, aged just 36.

Published: 26 August 2014 18:47 CEST

Hollande puts economy in hands of ex-banker, 36

Emmanuel Macron, aged 36, is France's new Economy Minister. Photo: AFP

French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday named 36-year-old Emmanuel Macron, a former banker and a close ally, the new economy minister in an emergency reshuffle after a major political crisis.

Macron, 36, is close to Hollande, replaces rebel Arnaud Montebourg whose outspoken speech against the government's economic policy provoked the latest political crisis.

Interestingly Macron was behind the president's flagship economic policy the "Responsibility Pact", which calls for lower payroll taxes on businesses in the hope of boosting recruitment, which Montebourg was so opposed to.

The graduate from elite political school ENA is back at the Elysée after leaving his economic advisor job there only in July. He pushed the Socialist president towards implementing a more liberal financial policy as the country struggles with stagnant growth and record unemployment.

Macron is very different from his predecessor Montebourg, who is on the left of the Socialist party and advocates cutting taxes and upping government spending.

He will be joined at the Ministry of Finance, known as Bercy, by Michel Sapin, another Hollande ally, who backs austerity measures. Sapin holds on to his position as Finance Minister.

Top ministers, including Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, remained in their post as did Ecology Minister Segolene Royal, Hollande's former partner and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve.

Current Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll, also an ally of François Hollande also retained his post as Agriculture Minister and Christiane Taubira hangs on as Justice Minister, despite appearing to side with the rebels.

Marisol Touraine keeps her post as Minister of Health and François Rebsamen is Minister of Labour.

Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, the former minister of women's rights, was named as the education minister replacing Benoit Hamon, who along with Montebourg had spoken out against Hollande's and Valls's policies.

Replacing Aurelie Filippetti as Culture Minister is Fleur Pellerin.

Several names had ruled themselves of being in the government throughout the day including former Director General of the World Trade Organisation Pascal Lamy and late on Tuesday transport secretary Frederic Cuvillier also ruled himself out of joining the new government.

With France now dealing with a political as well as a financial crisis Hollande let it be known on Tuesday the new leadership will be a government of “clarity”.

The presidential palace announced that Hollande wants his government to be “clear” on “its direction, its behaviour and its composition".

“It is imperative the behaviour [of ministers] guarantees coherence, respect and solidarity,” the palace said.

As unpopular Hollande battles to overcome splits in his ruling Socialists and revive the stagnant French economy, Manuel Valls was expected to announce the make-up of his new team on Tuesday afternoon.

The surprise resignation on Monday was seen as a bid to restore order after a weekend of sniping from Montebourg, who attacked France's economic direction and the country's main European ally Germany.

Montebourg, a left-wing firebrand who is no stranger to controversy, made it clear he would not be part of the new team and launched a hefty broadside at the policies of austerity he said had catapulted France and Europe into the worst economic crisis since the 1929 Depression.

Education Minister Benoît Hamon and Culture Minister Aurélie Filippetti later said they would join him in self-imposed exile from the next government.

Top French daily Le Monde described the reshuffle as "the last chance for the president to save his five-year term" as Hollande faces record-low unpopularity at 17 percent and record-high unemployment.

Their first cabinet meeting will be on Wednesday at 10am.

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France has in recent weeks been shaken by a series of attacks on schoolchildren by their peers, in particularly the fatal beating earlier this month of Shemseddine, 15, outside Paris.

The far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party has accused Attal of not doing enough on security as the anti-immigration party soars ahead of the government coalition in polls for the June 9th election.

Speaking in Viry-Chatillon, the town where Shemseddine was killed, Attal condemned the “addiction of some of our adolescents to violence”, calling for “a real surge of authority… to curb violence”.

“There are twice as many adolescents involved in assault cases, four times more in drug trafficking, and seven times more in armed robberies than in the general population,” he said.

Measures will include expanding compulsory school attendance to all the days of the week from 8am to 6pm for children of collège age (11 to 15).

“In the day the place to be is at school, to work and to learn,” said Attal, who was also marking 100 days in office since being appointed in January by President Emmanuel Macron to turn round the government’s fortunes.

Parents needed to take more responsibility, said Attal, warning that particularly disruptive children would have sanctions marked on their final grades.

OPINION: No, France is not suffering an unprecedented wave of violence

Promoting an old-fashioned back-to-basics approach to school authority, he said “You break something – you repair it. You make a mess – you clear it up. And if you disobey – we teach you respect.”

Attal also floated the possibility of children in exceptional cases being denied the right to special treatment on account of their minority in legal cases.

Thus 16-year-olds could be forced to immediately appear in court after violations “like adults”, he said. In France, the age of majority is 18, in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Macron and Attal face an uphill struggle to reverse the tide ahead of the European elections. Current polls point to the risk of a major debacle that would overshadow the rest of the president’s second mandate up to 2027.

A poll this week by Ifop-Fiducial showed the RN on 32.5 percent with the government coalition way behind on 18 percent.