French president names new cabinet

Paris: French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday named a new cabinet under Primes Minister Manual Valls and dropped ministers who rebelled against austerity measures, BBC reported. [caption id=“attachment_1683777” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Prime Minister Manual Valls. AFP[/caption] The first government of Valls, appointed less than five months ago, fell on Monday after a row with economy minister Arnaud Montebourg who later quit after publicly urging the government to end austerity policies and focus on growth. Montebourg, who resigned along with two other ministers from the left, will be replaced by Emmanuel Macron while for the first time a woman will be put in charge of education. Meanwhile, key ministers in the earlier cabinet such as foreign minister Laurent Fabius, defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, and finance minister Michel Sapin retain their posts. France is struggling with high unemployment and low growth and Hollande’s popularity is the lowest for a president in over 50 years. IANS