article: Most of the big posts have gone to men but everyone in the team had to meet the test of "overcoming the divisions between right and left and embracing a progressive project", a spokesman said. The new cabinet includes a campaigning environmentalist and an Olympic fencing champion. And half the list of candidates for next month's parliamentary elections are figures from France's civil society. Like the president, he graduated from the elite ENA college for France's top civil servants. In 2002 he was actively involved in setting up the centre-right party led by Bordeaux Mayor Alain Juppé. For years he was seen as Mr Juppé's right-hand man, but left politics to take up a post in the private sector. In 2010, he won the race to be mayor of the northern port city of Le Havre. He backed Mr Juppé's unsuccessful bid to secure the centre-right presidential nomination last November. Ten years before, he co-wrote a political novel with Gilles Boyer, who went on to run the Juppé campaign. What has he said? "Who is Macron? For some, impressed by his seductive power and reformist rhetoric, he would be the natural son of (JF) Kennedy and (ex-French PM) Mendès France. That seems unlikely. The former had more charisma, the latter more principles. For others, he would be Brutus, Caesar's adoptive son." President Macron fulfilled a promise to balance his cabinet with as many women as men. Here are some of the key appointments. Bruno Le Maire, economy minister: A right-winger, aged 48, he was part of Nicolas Sarkozy's government and is said to have coveted the economy role for several years. He ran for the Republican presidential nomination but fared badly in the public vote. Another right-wing figure, Gérard Darmanin, gets the role of public accounts minister. François Bayrou, justice minister: At 66, this centrist is no stranger to government, having served twice as education minister several years ago. He ran for the presidency three times but dropped out this year to throw his weight behind the Macron campaign. His intervention was seen as a turning point in the presidential race. Gérard Collomb, interior minister: An early adopter of the new president, aged 69, Mr Collomb was part of the Socialist party for decades. He was seen as instrumental in bringing François Bayrou into the campaign. He is the mayor of Lyon and has one of the toughest jobs in government, with France still under a state of emergency. Jean-Yves Le Drian, foreign and Europe minister: Aged 69, he served President François Hollande loyally as defence minister and is one of only two survivors of the outgoing government. The other is radical leftist Annick Girardin. Mr Le Drian is regarded as quiet but effective. Nicolas Hulot, ecology minister: An environmentalist opposed to nuclear energy, he was heavily involved in the COP21 climate change conference in Paris. In some ways his appointment was a surprise as he has in the past criticised Mr Macron for seeing green policies as an afterthought to free trade. Sylvie Goulard, defence minister: At 52, she is a
summary: France's new President, Emmanuel Macron, has picked his new government with a centre-right prime minister and a cabinet made up of 11 women and 11 men.