Macron nevertheless accepts discharge from Minister Collomb

paris - French President Emmanuel Macron has agreed to the departure of his Minister of the Interior Gérard Collomb. The minister had previously resigned because he wanted to become the mayor of Lyon again, but Macron refused to cooperate at first.

In the meantime, Macron has granted approval for the dismissal, reports the Élysée. Premier Édouard Philippe has been asked to name the names of a suitable successor. In the meantime, he will also take over Collomb's duties as Minister of Home Affairs.

Collomb (71), a former figurehead of the socialist party, was mayor of Lyon from 2001 to May 2017. The new election for mayor is in 2020.

It is not the first time that a minister has stepped down during Macron's presidency. Minister of the Environment, Nicolas Hulot, and Minister of Sport, Laura Flessel, recently introduced Collomb. Flessel cleared the field for personal reasons. Hulot stepped up out of dissatisfaction with the government's environmental policy.

The departure of Collomb means a new blow to the reformist president, whose popularity is under pressure. The now forty-year-old Macron caused a revolution earlier by forming his own movement and winning the elections last year. The established political parties had it checked.