21 June 2017•Update: 21 June 2017
PARIS
Two more French ministers quit the government on Wednesday over allegations of fake jobs for party assistants in the European Parliament, bringing to three the number of resignations from President Emmanuel Macron’s cabinet in less than a week.
Francois Bayrou, the justice minister and the leader of the centrist Democracy Movement (MoDem), presented his resignation to Macron and will not now be part of a new French government to be announced later on Wednesday.
Marielle de Sarnez, European Affairs minister, also stepped down on Wednesday.
Bayrou's party had formed an alliance with Macron's La Republique En Marche! (LREM) and played a pivotal part in the presidential election earlier this year as well as in the recent general elections.
Sarnez was among 19 French MEPs facing misconduct allegations over hiring assistants at the European Parliament.
On Tuesday, Defense Minister Sylvie Goulard announced her resignation, saying that her departure would help her to "freely demonstrate" her "good faith" in an investigation into the allegations.
These resignations come ahead of what was supposed to be a "technical reshuffle” following Sunday’s parliamentary elections which saw LREM and its centrist MoDem ally win an overwhelming majority.
Macron's party has enough power in the National Assembly to form a government with its 308 lawmakers.
Reporting by Murat Unlu;Writing by Ilker Girit
