When French President Emmanuel Macron unveiled his new government this week, the list included known heavyweights, newcomers, and personalities from both the left and the right. Among them was career diplomat Catherine Colonna – a former ambassador to the UK and only the second woman to take up the foreign ministry dossier – who inherits a host of complicated issues, from deteriorating relations with former French colony Mali to responding to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
As his newly re-elected administration faces multiple challenges on the world stage, French President Emmanuel Macron chose Catherine Colonna, 66, as the country’s top diplomat to replace another outgoing veteran – Jean-Yves Le Drian, who headed France’s foreign affairs ministry (2017-2022) after a five-year term as defence minister. Colonna is best known in France as former president Jacques Chirac’s spokeswoman, a post she held for almost a decade.
