France’s new government announced

The Secretary-General of the Elysee Palace Claude Gueant announced the formation of the new government which is still headed by Francois Fillon on Sunday night, vesti.ru reported.

The reshuffled cabinet was streamlined from a total of 37 members to 22 ministers and 8 secretaries of state, embracing several new faces such as ex-premier Alain Juppe and Michele Alliot-Marie.

Alain Juppe replaced Herve Morin as defense minister while Alliot-Marie took over Bernard Kouchner's post of foreign minister and another new comer Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet will be ecology minister.

Both defense minister and foreign minister are also state ministers.

Former Ecology Minister Jean-Louis Borloo who was hot candidate to replace Fillon's premier post left Sarkozy's administration for good.

Except for Borloo, four other ministers were shed from the new government: Bernard Kouchner (foreign minister), Eric Woerth ( labor minister), Rama Yade (sports minister) and Fadela Amara ( minister for city policies).

Xavier Bertrand, former secretary-general of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), was nominated to minister for Labour, employment and health, meanwhile Jean-Fran-ois Cope took his place to lead the ruling UMP.

Some members such as Economy Minister Christine Lagarde and Budget Minister Francois Baroin secured their posts in the reshuffle. Baroin will also act as the spokesman of the government.

Note that France is one of the co-chairing countries in OSCE Minsk Group.