Dominique de Villepin has been named France's new prime minister following the resignation of Jean-Pierre Raffarin. The government reshuffle came in response to Sunday's referendum in which French voters inflicted a humiliating defeat on the government by rejecting Europe's constitutional treaty by almost 55 per cent. The CAC-40 index of leading French shares softened slightly on the news, reflecting investors' disappointment that the more reformist Nicolas Sarkozy had not been appointed to the job. Mr Raffarin, who had served as prime minister since 2002, saw his approval rating plummet to just 21 per cent as the economy slowed and unemployment rose above 10 per cent again this year. Although he did introduce limited reforms of the pensions system and the social security sector, Mr Raffarin's critics accused him of not being bold enough. Mr de Villepin, 51, who previously served as interior minister, is one of France's most high-profile politicians even though he has never held elected office.
A classic French technocrat, who studied at the elite Ecole Nationale d'Administration (Ena), Mr de Villepin shot up the ranks of the civil service before emerging as President Jacques Chirac's private secretary in 1995. He is best known internationally for his passionate opposition the US-led war in Iraq in 2003 while serving as foreign minister. Mr de Villepin's top priority will be tackle the country's unemployment crisis. In the past, he has called on the government to pursue more socially oriented reforms but his precise views about economic policy are not widely known. As one of Mr Chirac's closest confidantes, Mr de Villepin will receive strong backing as a possible presidential candidate in 2007. But Mr de Villepin will first have to prove himself in the highly demanding job of prime minister.