French President Jacques Chirac appointed Dominique de Villepin, a loyalist who was France’s voice against the Iraq war, as Prime Minister on Tuesday to head a new government in response to a humiliating referendum defeat.
Villepin (51) moves from the interior ministry to replace Jean-Pierre Raffarin, dumped after voters on Sunday roundly rejected Chirac’s call for the ratification of a European Union Constitution.
Chirac charged De Villepin with the task of forming a new government. De Villepin arrived at the presidential Elysée Palace just minutes after Chirac bid farewell to Raffarin with a handshake on the palace steps.
De Villepin, a former foreign minister, is best known for his eloquent defence of the French stance against a United States-led invasion of Iraq. De Villepin is a long-standing Chirac loyalist and was once his top counsellor. However, he is an unpopular choice among lawmakers opposed to a prime minister who has never held elected office.
Meanwhile, the chief of France’s governing party, Nicolas Sarkozy, was being brought back into government as interior minister in the shakeup, according to a lawmaker close to Sarkozy.
Lawmaker Yves Jego told France-Info radio that Sarkozy was taking over the ministry vacated by Dominique de Villepin, who was named prime minister. – Sapa-AP