Gérald Darmanin

The grandson of a Maltese jew, Gérald Darmanin, has today been named Minister of Public Affairs and Public Accounts in French President Emmanuel Macron’s first government.

Tourcoing mayor, Mr Darmanin, 35, is a Republicans vice-president and former Sarkozy ally.

In his new post, he will be assisting Economy Minister Bruno le Maire, a reform-minded conservative whose expertise on Europe and staunch defence of the Franco-German relationship will prove valuable as Macron pushes for closer EU integration.

A pro-European, German-speaking rightist, Le Maire came second to ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy for the leadership of The Republicans party in 2014 and finished fifth in the right-wing presidential primaries last year.

Macron appointed a mix of political hues to the top jobs as part of his promise to bridge the right-left divide.

Having already made conservative Edouard Philippe his prime minister earlier in the week, Macron's pick for economy minister was Bruno Le Maire a pro-European, German-speaking rightist from Philippe's The Republicans (LR) party.

For interior minister, Macron picked Gerard Collomb, the mayor of Lyon who was one of the first Socialists to support him.

Jean-Yves Le Drian, outgoing Socialist defence minister and a close friend of ex-President Francois Hollande, was named foreign minister and minister for Europe. The foreign ministry portfolio does not usually officially include Europe.

In another nod to the importance of Europe for Macron, Sylvie Goulard, a centrist lawmaker in the European Parliament who speaks four languages and is better known in Brussels than in Paris, was named defence minister.

Other appointments included Francois Bayrou, the head of the centrist Modem party, as justice minister and Marielle de Sarnez as junior Europe minister.

Macron had promised to include figures from civil society in his government. To that end, Nicolas Hulot, a well-known environmentalist, was named as ecology minister.

There are a total of 18 ministers. In keeping with his promise of gender balance, Macron named nine men and nine women.

The first cabinet meeting will take place tomorrow. (Reuters)