French govt reshuffle edges to the right

France's new prime minister will lead a Cabinet that has edged to the right, with the reemergence of several key figures from the government of former right-wing president Nicolas Sarkozy.

Gabriel Attal, 34, who President Emmanuel Macron named as prime minister on Jan 9 after the resignation of Elisabeth Borne, will still have several major players from Borne's Cabinet to call upon, but new members, including Stephane Sejourne as minister for foreign affairs and veteran Cabinet member Rachida Dati as culture minister, give the hitherto centrist government a right-wing feel.

Olivier Faure, leader of the Socialist party, said the government, which had previously tried to appeal to both left-wing and right-wing voters, now looks set on heading off the threat from the far right by resurrecting "Sarkozy's dinosaurs" and moving itself to the right.

The Liberation newspaper also pointed out the Sarkozy influence after the reshuffle, with the headline "The Sarko connection".

Socialist party lawmaker Boris Vallaud told The Guardian that Macron had followed up on the government's hard-line overhaul of France's immigration system, which many lawmakers said was suggestive of the ruling Renaissance party drifting to the right, by confirming it with the reshuffle.

Attal countered by telling TF1 television that he simply favors people who can get things done. "What I want is action, action, action" and "results, results, results", he said.

Challenge ahead

The new Cabinet surrounding Attal, France's youngest prime minister, is, however, mainly about ensuring Macron withstands the challenge from the far right in European elections on June 9.

Macron, who was vilified last year during violent protests against his pension reforms, reportedly said at the new Cabinet's first meeting that he wants "quick results" and is not looking for "managers" but "revolutionaries".

The Guardian noted that eight of 14 key ministers have backgrounds in former president Sarkozy's Republicans party.

Dati, who served as justice minister under Sarkozy between 2007 and 2009, is joined by Catherine Vautrin, who served under former right-wing president Jacques Chirac, and Emmanuel Moulin, former adviser to Sarkozy, who is the new prime minister's chief of staff.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, who also served in Sarkozy's government but who was in Borne's Cabinet too, hung onto his job, as did Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire.