PARIS — French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, nominated to her position in May 2022, will be replaced after French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne resigned from her position Monday evening. Colonna's exit was made official on Thursday; she will be replaced by Stephane Sejourne.
Sejourne has been serving for the past year and a half as secretary-general of President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party. When Macron won his first election in 2017, Sejourne joined as a political adviser at the Elysee. He is considered especially close to both the president and newly appointed French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal.
Colonna, through her 19-month tenure, oversaw a packed Middle East agenda. Since the Oct. 7 attacks and the Gaza war, Colonna has been in contact with different players in the Middle East on four major issues: calling for a humanitarian cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, increasing humanitarian aid, advancing a deal for the liberation of the hostages and preventing any further escalation on the Israel-Lebanon border. She also visited Israel, the Palestinian territories and Lebanon during the war.
On Saturday, Colonna spoke about these issues with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry. She also spoke recently with Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki and Israeli war cabinet Minister Benny Gantz.
