16 ministers in Valls' government

Eight men and eight women make up France’s smallest ministerial team since 1958

AFTER a two-hour meeting at the Élysée Palace between new Prime Minister Manuel Valls and President Francois Hollande France's new-look “fighting government” has been revealed.

The team was unveiled after the President had already left the Elysee Palace to head to Brussels for an EU-Africa summit.

Mr Valls’ 16-strong ministerial team, which features eight men and eight women and is the smallest since 1958, is:

Laurent Fabius: Minister of Foreign Affairs and international development

Ségolène Royal: Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy

Benoît Hamon: Minister of National Education, Higher Education and Research

Christiane Taubira: Minister of Justice

Michel Sapin: Minister of Finance and the Public Accounts

Arnaud Montebourg: Minister of Economy, Productive Recovery and Digital

Marisol Touraine: Minister of Social Affairs

François Rebsamen: Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Dialogue

Jean-Yves Le Drian: Defence Minister

Bernard Cazeneuve: Interior Minister

Najat Vallaud-Belkacem: Minister of Women's Rights, the City, Youth and Sports

Sylvia Pinel: Minister for Housing and Equality

Marylise Lebranchu: Minister of Decentralisation, State Reform and Public Service

Aurélie Filippetti: Minister of Culture and Communication

Stéphane Le Foll: Minister of Agriculture, Food, Forestry and spokesman of the government

George Pau-Langevin: Minister of Overseas Territories

Mme Royal, the President's former partner, and Mr Rebsamen are the only two new faces in Mr Valls’ revamped ministerial team.

Six cabinet members - Benoît Hamon, Michel Sapin, Arnaud Montebourg, Bernard Cazeneuve, Sylvia Pinel and George Pau-Langevin have new portfolios.

Laurent Fabius, Najat Belkacem-Vallaud, Marylise Lebranchu, Stéphane Le Foll and Aurélie Filippetti all have expanded roles - while Christiane Taubira, Marisol Touraine and Jean-Yves Le Drian remain in the posts they held under former Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault.

The identities of the secretaries of state will be unveiled next week.