'Won't overshadow Macron': Who's who in France's new cabinet

France's new government, finally appointed two-and-a-half months after elections, features a host of new faces all of whom share the same characteristic -- they are unlikely to stand in 2027 presidential elections.

Three out of four of the key offices of state have new ministers, with Prime Minister Michel Barnier's government having a distinctly more right-wing tilt than that of his predecessor Gabriel Attal.

None of the ministers named are "presidentiable", likely to stand in 2027 presidential elections where President Emmanuel Macron is not allowed to seek a third mandate.

The declared candidates and possible contenders in that race include former premier Edouard Philippe, outgoing interior minister Gerald Darmanin and the head of the right in parliament, Laurent Wauquiez.

All are now firmly outside the cabinet.

AFP takes a look at the new faces:

Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot

Barrot, just 41, has enjoyed a swift rise from junior government posts as digital affairs minister and most lately Europe minister to land one of the key positions in European diplomacy.

He faces an immense task against the background of international crises to restore the weight of the French foreign ministry from its base on the Quai d'Orsay in Paris after the relatively brief tenures of his predecessors Catherine Colonna and Stephane Sejourne.

The son of former minister and EU commission vice president Jacques Barrot, he will also have to contend with the fact that Macron sees foreign policy as his own domain. He frequently launches initiatives from the Elysee without going through the Quai.

An alumnus of MIT in the United States, Barrot has acquitted himself well in TV appearances. He has taken a hard line on foreign interference and disinformation, notably blaming Russia for a panic that swept France last year over bedbugs.

Working under Barrot, Benjamin Haddad takes over as Europe Minister. He is a former director at the US think-tank the Atlantic Council who is well known in Brussels and Washington.

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau

The current head of the right-wing The Republicans (LR) in the upper house Senate, Bruno Retailleau is a social conservative who may see some friction with the centrist Macron and his allies.

Always crisply dressed, the practising Catholic, 63, carries out his politics by the credo of the three values of "order", "authority" and "firmness".

These will be put to the test as he takes on a ministry that oversees France's police, is responsible for security in the face of an elevated attack risk and takes point on the contentious issue of migration.

He has opposed not only gay marriage but also -- unlike many comrades on the right -- the inscribing of the right to abortion in the French constitution, a move championed by Macron.

"He will not be in office to be a centrist, that's for sure," said one of Macron's political friends, who declined to be named, of Retailleau.

At his home in his native Vendee region, Retailleau keeps sheep, chickens and a donkey.

Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu

Lecornu is the only key minister to stay on from the previous government, a measure of the importance of his job in the third year of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

But it also reflects Macron's esteem for the 38-year-old.

"He is loyal but won't overshadow Macron. And his work at defence has been good," said one source close to the government asking not to be named.

A career politician, Lecornu started out as a parliamentary assistant aged just 19.

He has worked staunchly to keep up assistance for Ukraine, while carefully remaining in the shadows with relatively infrequent media appearances.

Economy Minister Antoine Armand

If Barrot's rise has been meteoric, Armand's ascendancy is of inter-planetary proportions.

Aged just 33, he is chairman of parliament's economic committee and now must face up to France's huge budget shortfalls.

He takes on a vast super ministry on the Quai de Bercy overlooking the River Seine in eastern Paris, which since Macron came to power has been dominated by outgoing minister Bruno Le Maire.

Armand fills the big shoes of "BLM" who dominated Bercy and was ubiquitous on the airwaves, while finding time to pen several books including a novel with a breathlessly erotic passage that sent the Internet crazy.

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