French Interior Minister Collomb quits in new blow to Macron
125 views · Published 8 October 2018 · 0:43 · Indexed 26 September 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(3 Oct 2018) French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday formally accepted the resignation of his high-profile interior minister, in the latest blow to his administration. Earlier this month, Gerard Collomb expressed his intention to stand down so he could run as mayor of the city of Lyon in spring 2020. He initially said that he would resign next year to start campaigning. The announcement prompted criticism from opposition leaders from the right and the left, saying the interior minister should be focused on his job rather than getting ready to campaign for another position. On Monday, Macron's office said the leader rejected Collomb's resignation. Yet Collomb reiterated his decision to resign in the French newspaper Le Figaro on Tuesday, saying: "Today, given rumours and pressures there might be, I don't want the fact that I'm a candidate somewhere to trouble the interior ministry," he said. An experienced politician as mayor of Lyon for 16 years, Collomb became Macron's key ally when he left the Socialist Party to join his centrist, pro-European presidential bid. He was holding one of the most senior positions in the cabinet, supervising the fight against extremism on French territory. Collomb is the latest senior official to leave the government. Last month, popular environment minister Nicolas Hulot, a former TV personality, unexpectedly announced his resignation, pointing at the government's slow pace of progress on green issues. Macron was recently criticised by political rivals as being arrogant and out of touch with the people when he told a young unemployed gardener this month he could find a job in a restaurant just by "crossing the street". He also struggled for weeks amid a major scandal over his former security aide that erupted in July when the man was identified in a video as acting violently toward a protester while wearing police equipment. The French presidency said Macron asked Prime Minister Edouard Philippe to be temporarily in charge of the interior ministry until Collomb's successor is appointed. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/e7242f4723bce0d257b8c671e7dc6c2a
