Interim French Cabinet named

PARIS, France -- French President Jacques Chirac has named a 21-member interim Cabinet to take over the reins of government ahead of next month's parliamentary elections.

Among those elevated to political power is France's first female defence minister, a philosopher, a steel magnate and one of Chirac's closest advisers.

New Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin described the team, which will meet on Friday, as "a government of action" that had "less pretension, less arrogance" than its predecessors and was determined to get things done.

Dominique de Villepin, a diplomat and presidential adviser, becomes Foreign Minister.

CNN NewsPass VIDEO An interim French Cabinet has been named following the weekend's presidential election landslide for Jacques Chirac.CNN's Rym Brahimi reports (May 7) Play video   MORE STORIES • Chirac appoints new prime minister  • Chirac salutes French voters    EXTRA INFORMATION In-depth: France Decides 2002    RESOURCES Profile: Jean-Pierre Raffarin      QUICKVOTE Can French President Jacques Chirac heal the wounds opened by the past two weeks? Yes No View Results

He has been chief of staff at the presidential Elysee Palace since Chirac was first elected president in 1995.

It was de Villepin who announced Chirac's selection on Monday of Raffarin as France's new prime minister.

Francis Mer, chairman of Luxembourg-based steel company Arcelor, becomes Finance Minister.

Mer has spent the last 30 years in French industry and played a key role in the restructuring of the French steel industry in the early 1990s.

His appointment comes as the European Union is embroiled in a row with the U.S. over tariffs Washington has imposed on steel imports.

Michele Alliot-Marie, 55, head of Chirac's conservative political party, becomes France's first woman Defence Minister.

The high-profile head of Chirac's RPR party since 1999, Alliot-Marie served as sports minister in 1993-95.

Conservative Nicolas Sarkozy will head the Ministry of the Interior, Internal Security and Local Freedoms.

With France facing rising crime, his role has been enlarged to place greater emphasis on domestic security.

Among other appointments was Dominique Perben, a politician from Chirac's Rally for the Republic party, as Justice Minister, Luc Ferry, a philosopher, is named head of the Education Ministry, while Alain Lambert, head of the Senate budget and finance committee from the centre-right Union for French Democracy Party, is Budget Minister.

The post of labour minister went to Francois Fillon, of Chirac's RPR party, and Gilles de Robien, of the UDF party, was named tourism minister.

With France's two-round parliamentary elections scheduled for June 9 and 16, Raffarin's team has just over a month to make its mark.

If the left takes the majority of seats in the National Assembly, Chirac will be forced to replace Raffarin with a left-wing prime minister who would probably name his or her own Cabinet.