By Hajer M'tiri
PARIS (AA) – French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday made a mini government reshuffle to replace the resigned ministers of environment and sports.
According to an Elysee statement, Parliament Speaker Francis Rugy, a former Greens party member who joined Macron's Republic on the Move party last year, is to replace Nicolas Hulot as environment minister.
Macron lost a key figure who was pushing the government to prioritize climate-related issues.
Last year, the appointment of Hulot came as a surprise as both former presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande had previously failed to convince the television star to join their respective governments.
Former swimmer, Roxana Maracineanu, a silver medalist in the backstroke at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and a world champion in 1998, will become the minister of sports after Laura Flessel resigned on Tuesday, citing “personal reasons “.
The resignations came at a time when Macron’s popularity rating dropped 10 points to reach 31 percent, according to an Ifop survey for Paris Match magazine and Sud Radio released on Tuesday.
