Paris, Dec 6 (IANS) French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday appointed incumbent Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve as the new Prime Minister to replace Manuel Valls, as the latter has decided to quit the job, authorities said.
Hollande has picked Cazeneuve as Prime Minister until the end of the Socialist Party's five year term next May, Elysee Palace said in a statement, Xinhua news agency reported.
Hollande has accepted the resignation of Valls who launched a bid to seek the Left's nomination to book a ticket for the presidential race, it added.
Hollande also effected a minor cabinet reshuffle where Bruno Le Roux, chief of the Socialist Party in the Lower House of parliament, will replace Cazeneuve as the Interior Minister while Andre Vallini was named Junior Minister for Relations with Parliament, and Jean-Marie Le Guen was named Secretary of State for Development and Francophonie.
In a cabinet reshuffle in 2014, Cazeneuve, then a deputy minister in charge of budget, was nominated Interior Minister to replace Valls who was named chief of the Socialist government.
"(Cazeneuve) has the experience of the state. He knows very well the issues of security and the fight against terrorism, which is one of the government's priorities," a source close to the presidential office said.
Valls announced his candidacy for the Left primary in preparation for the 2017 presidential election on Monday in Evry, a commune in the suburbs of Paris, proposing a new path for "an independent France uncompromising on its values". He submitted his resignation to Hollande earlier on Tuesday.
