France juggles Cabinet

PARIS - Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, a relentless critic of the U.S. war in Iraq, became interior minister under a major French government shakeup announced Wednesday. The opposition quickly criticized the changes as cosmetic.

De Villepin, France's top diplomat since May 2002, will be replaced by European Commissioner Michel Barnier, the presidential Elysee Palace announced. Barnier has expressed concern over what France sees as American domination of Europe but has also called for strong U.S. ties.

The interior minister, the popular Nicolas Sarkozy, becomes head of the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry and keeps his ranking as the top minister just under Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin.

Replacing Barnier as European commissioner is Jacques Barrot, head of the governing party in the National Assembly.

Critics noted that almost all the ministers hailed from President Jacques Chirac's party, the Union for a Popular Movement, and dismissed the changes as a game of musical chairs.

The changes followed the governing right's overwhelming defeat in Sunday regional elections, in which the Socialist-led opposition marched to victory in all but one region of mainland France.

Chirac decided Tuesday to retain Raffarin but make drastic changes in the government. He also decided to move ahead with reforms that turned the country against the conservatives.

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