The government still faces two challenges in the coming weeks: the risk of a no-confidence vote and a tight budget deadline.

French President Emmanuel Macron appointed Antoine Armand as finance minister, thrusting a 33-year-old with limited political experience into an urgent budget battle in which he must bring fiscal discipline while maintaining tacit support from the far right to avoid government collapse.

The new cabinet is marked by a shift to the right 11 weeks after parliamentary elections that saw a left-wing alliance come out on top but short of a majority in the Assemblée Nationale.