French defense minister quits amid party probe

By Hajer M'tiri

PARIS (AA) - France’s defense minister announced her resignation on Tuesday amid an investigation targeting her MoDem party over allegations of fake jobs for party assistants in the European Parliament.

Sylvie Goulard said her resignation will help her to "freely demonstrate" her "good faith" in an investigation into the allegations.

"Defense is a demanding portfolio. The honor of our armies, that of the men and women who serve and put their lives in danger, should not be mixed up in controversies that have nothing to do with them," she said in a statement.

Goulard, a German-speaking centrist member of the European Parliament, was an advisor of former European Commission President Romano Prodi.

"The president [Emmanuel Macron] has undertaken to restore confidence in public office, to reform France and to revive Europe. This reorganization must take precedence over any personal considerations", Goulard added.

Another close ally of Macron, Minister of Territorial Cohesion Richard Ferrand, has also resigned amid an investigation into possible nepotism and conflicts of interest.

He is set to become the head of Macron’s La Republique En Marche! (LREM) parliamentary group.

Macron has promised to clean up politics following a series of corruption scandals. He unveiled on June 1 a legislative bill that aims at setting more transparent and tighter ethical standards for politicians and holders of public office.

The reform legislation will be examined by parliament in the form of two bills before the end of June.

These two resignations came ahead of a "technical reshuffle” following Sunday’s parliamentary elections which saw LREM and its centrist MoDem ally win an overwhelming majority of the 350 seats in the National Assembly's 577-seat chamber -- far more than the 289 needed for an absolute majority.

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe is expected to reveal the line-up of the new government on Wednesday.