Attal is France's youngest ever prime minister and has an array of challenges
Attal is France's youngest ever prime minister and has an array of challenges AFP

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday replaced his foreign minister but maintained other key figures in their posts in a reshuffle that tilted his cabinet to the right and left all top ministries in the hands of men.

The reshuffle followed the appointment this week of 34-year-old Gabriel Attal as prime minister which Macron hopes will give his presidency new momentum.

The secretary general of Macron's Renaissance party Stephane Sejourne, 38, was named foreign minister in place of Catherine Colonna, although other key ministers including Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire kept their posts.

With Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu also staying, this left all the top ministries in the hands of men, following the departure earlier this week of Elisabeth Borne as prime minister.

Sejourne was in a civil partnership with Attal, France's first openly gay prime minister, but their relationship is now believed to be over.

Rachida Dati, 58, a justice minister under the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy and member of the right-wing opposition Republicans party, was named culture minister in a surprise appointment.

The appointments were announced at the Elysee Palace by Macron's chief of staff Alexis Kohler.

Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera, 45, a former French tennis champion who already faces an immense task overseeing the Olympic Games this summer in Paris, will now head a new super ministry combining sports and education, Attal's former department.

The appointments appeared to mark a new shift to the right for Macron's centrist government, with the defection of Dati causing a furore within the Republicans.

Eric Ciotti, leader of the Republicans party, announced Dati would be excluded from the party following her appointment, accusing her of "placing herself outside our political family".

Colonna's departure had been widely expected, with the former ambassador to the UK seen by critics as not being a loud enough voice for French foreign policy at a time of multiple global challenges.

Catherine Vautrin, a former minister in the right-wing presidency of Jacques Chirac and another ex-member of the Republicans, is the new labour and health minister.

When Macron came to power in 2017, his government mixed figures from the right and the left but the new cabinet is prominently sprinkled with right-wing names.

The appointment of Attal and the reshuffle are seen as crucial for Macron relaunching his government with an eye to June 2024 European elections where the far right under Marine Le Pen's protege Jordan Bardella, 28, are leading in the polls.

Cabinet ministers are also keenly aware that Macron cannot stand again in 2027 presidential elections which will represent Le Pen's best ever chance to take the Elysee.