(6 Jul 2020) French President Emmanuel Macron ousted his top security official on Monday after protests over police brutality, as part of a government shakeup aimed at focusing on post-virus economic recovery for the remaining two years of Macron's term.
Macron also named a controversial lawyer who has defended Julian Assange and suspected terrorists at the head of the Justice Ministry, and appointed a former Green Party lawmaker as head of a powerful Ministry for Ecological Transition, a top priority for Macron's presidency.
Macron promised that the new government would be one of "purpose and unity."
Macron tweeted that the platform upon which he stood in 2017, promising to modernise France and free up its businesses, remains central to his politics but "must adapt to the international upheavals and crises we are experiencing: A new path must be forged."
First among the priorities that Macron listed for the coming months is helping the French economy recover from the battering delivered by the pandemic.
Former budget minister Gerald Darmanin was named to replace Interior Minister Christophe Castaner, who had come under fire amid widespread French protests against racial injustice and police brutality spurred by the death of George Floyd in the United States.
Macron didn't change the finance or health ministers, central to helping France through the virus crisis and recession, or the foreign and defence ministers.
Macron last week ditched the prime minister, Edouard Philippe, who steered France through its coronavirus lockdown and the first three years of Macron's presidency.
The new prime minister, Jean Castex, is a career civil servant with no ministerial experience.
His low profile suggests that Macron doesn't want to be overshadowed should he choose to stand again in 2022.
The 42-year-old Macron has not yet said if he'll seek a second term.
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