Moroccan-born woman appointed to French cabinet

Following the suggestion of French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, French President Francois Hollande has on Wednesday morning appointed Myriam el-Khomri as Minister of Labour to succeed Francois Rebsamin who resigned last month after being elected as mayor of the city of Dijon.

Khomri served as Secretary of State responsible for urban policy. Her appointment by Vals last year was a big surprise as Khomri was an unfamiliar face to the majority of French people although she had occupied the post of deputy mayor of Paris, in charge of security and crime prevention.

Khomri (36) was born in Rabat in 1978 to a Moroccan father and a French mother and lived her childhood in Morocco before moving to Paris to study. She joined the Socialist Party when she was studying at the Faculty of Law at the University of Paris (Pantheon-Sorbonne) in 2002. She was discovered and embraced by the former Socialist Mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoe, who appointed her in 2008 as his deputy, in charge of child protection.

Following the election of the current mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, she was made in charge of urban policy.

Myriam el-Khomri, along with her Moroccan colleague, Minister of Education Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, are seen by many as young new faces that represent the Arab community in France.

Hollande is counting on the new minister to reduce the unemployment rate that is hurting France and causing the president's popularity to fall. Hollande had promised last year that he will not run for a second term in office if his government was unable to reduce unemployment.