Catherine Colonna will lead France’s troubled foreign ministry

This week, French President Emmanuel Macron announced his new cabinet, which featured well-known heavyweights, newbies, and people from both the left and the right. Among them is career diplomat Catherine Colonna, a former ambassador to the United Kingdom and only the second woman to take on the foreign ministry portfolio, who inherits a slew of difficult issues, ranging from deteriorating relations with former French colony Mali to responding to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

As his newly re-elected administration faces numerous challenges on the global stage, French President Emmanuel Macron appointed Catherine Colonna, 66, as the country’s top diplomat to replace another departing veteran, Jean-Yves Le Drian, who led France’s foreign affairs ministry (2017-2022) after a five-year term as defence minister. Colonna is best known in France for serving as former President Jacques Chirac’s spokeswoman for nearly a decade.

Colonna is only the second woman to hold the position, and she inherits a variety of complicated dossiers, including the response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, deteriorating relations with former colony Mali, and frequently troubled post-Brexit negotiations with the UK, in addition to pressing global issues such as climate change and Covid-19.

Colonna, a pro-European, has been France’s ambassador to London since 2018, at a particularly difficult period for Franco-British relations due to disagreements over Brexit, fishing rights, and immigration. The British government summoned her in an extraordinary move in October 2021, as Paris and London fought over fishing rights in the Channel.

On Friday, in her final official post as ambassador to the UK, she said she “wanted to thank everyone who realised we are friends of this country and will continue to strive for a better future.”

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