The Latest: Conservative pol named French finance minister


              Sylvie Goulard arrives at the Elysee Palace Sunday, May 14, 2017 in Paris. Goulard has been nominated as new Defense Minister in French President Emmanuel Macron's first government, Wednesday May, 17 2017 (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Sylvie Goulard arrives at the Elysee Palace Sunday, May 14, 2017 in Paris. Goulard has been nominated as new Defense Minister in French President Emmanuel Macron's first government, Wednesday May, 17 2017 (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

PARIS (AP) - The Latest on new French President Emmanuel Macron's government (all times local):

3:15 p.m.

A high-profile conservative politician has been named as France's finance minister in President Emmanuel Macron's first government.

Bruno Le Maire is a member of The Republicans party. The 48-year-old served as agriculture minister from 2009 to 2012 under former President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Alexis Kohler, Macron's general secretary at the presidential Elysee Palace, made the announcement Wednesday.

His appointment in Macron's government is a signal to right-wing voters ahead of June parliamentary elections.

Gerard Collomb, a 69-year-old Socialist, was appointed interior minister. He has since 2001 been major of Lyon - France's third biggest city. He was the first major Socialist politician to decide to back Macron's presidential bid.

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3:00 p.m.

France's former defense minister has been named as foreign minister and centrist politician Sylvie Goulard defense minister in French President Emmanuel Macron's first government.

Alexis Kohler, Macron's new general secretary at the presidential Elysee Palace, made the announcement Wednesday.

The 69-year-old Le Drian was France's defense minister during the five-year term of former President Francois Hollande. He was one of the Socialist government's most popular ministers.

He supervised French military operations in Mali, Central African Republic, Iraq and Syria.

The 59-year-old Goulard, the new defense minister, is a pro-European centrist politician. She started her professional career at the French Foreign Affairs Ministry, where she was a member of the team that negotiated the consequences of Germany's reunification in 1989-1990.

She also worked as a political adviser to Italian politician Romano Prodi when he was president of the European Commission from 2001 to 2004.

She has been a member of the European Parliament since 2009.

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9:54 a.m. French President Emmanuel Macron is meeting with the European Union president as both try to keep the bloc from falling apart.

Macron, who will also verify his choices for government ministers, is hosting Donald Tusk in the Elysee Palace in a sign of the new French president's determination to shore up European unity.

Macron wants European militaries to work together more, and for eurozone countries to share a budget and tax rules. He has also promised a tough line on Britain as it negotiates its departure from the EU.

Macron's office will announce the government lineup Wednesday afternoon, after a delay to dig deeper into proposed ministers' tax records and potential conflicts of interest. A series of tax evasion and other scandals hit the previous government.

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