France: Jean-Yves Le Drian, ten years of crises in two ministries

The outgoing French Foreign Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, with the new head of French diplomacy, Catherine Colonna, during the handover ceremony in Paris, this Saturday, May 21, 2022. AP - Christophe Petit Tesson

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Catherine Colonna is the new French Foreign Minister.

This seasoned diplomat succeeded, this Saturday, May 21, to Jean-Yves Le Drian.

The latter was the face of French diplomacy for five years, after having been Minister of Defense for the entire previous five-year term.

It's a decade of crises that this 74-year-old Breton, from the PS, has gone through.

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With our special correspondent at the Quai d'Orsay,

Minister of Defense during the entire presidency of François Hollande, between 2012 and 2017, Jean-Yves Le Drian had to manage the external operations of the French army, in Mali then in Iraq and Syria.

A period of crises, dominated by the anti-jihadist struggle, which was followed by yet another crisis, for the Breton who became Minister of Foreign Affairs for Emmanuel Macron's first five-year term (2017-2022).

After ten years in government, Jean-Yves Le Drian leaves the Quai d'Orsay in the midst of the war in Ukraine, and against a backdrop of strong tensions with Mali.

Jean-Yves Le Drian remains

next month, in a case of awarding a public contract for the manufacture of Malian passports, described as " 

 " by France.

At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, other issues have loaded the minister's agenda in recent years: the international upheavals linked to Covid, the uncertainties of the Trump period in the United States, the humiliating

which threw a cold between Paris and Washington, or even the thorny Iranian nuclear issue.

Le Drian's supporters hail his experience and also the personal relationships he has forged with close allies of France, such as the leader of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed bin Zayed.

Jean-Yves Le Drian leaves a worried Quai d'Orsay.

A call for a strike was launched there to protest against the abolition of the corps of diplomats, a reform wanted by Emmanuel Macron to which the head of French diplomacy could not oppose.

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Handover ceremony at the Quai d'Orsay between Jean-Yves Le Drian and Catherine Colonna@JY_LeDrian @AmbColonna https://t.co/FX3vBa7SvG

— France Diplomacy🇫🇷🇪🇺 (@francediplo) May 21, 2022

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• France

• Jean-Yves Le Drian

• Diplomacy

• Emmanuel Macron