Return to the front of the political scene for Catherine Colonna.
The former Minister Delegate for European Affairs (2005-2007) in the government of Dominique de Villepin has just been appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Catherine Colonna was also spokesperson for the Élysée from 1995 to 2004 under the presidency of Jacques Chirac.
She was then Permanent Representative of France to UNESCO (2008-2010) and the OECD (2017-2019), then Ambassador to Italy (2014-2017) and finally to the United Kingdom since September 2019, position she held until her appointment.
Holder of a DEA in public law, a graduate of Sciences Po and the ENA, Catherine Colonna took her first steps at the French Embassy in the United States in 1983.
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In 1990, she became one of the spokespersons for the communication department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
She had also made a stint in the private sector, joining the international financial communication firm Brunswick in 2010.
Since 2008, she has been a member of the board of directors of the Fondation Chirac, created by the former President of the Republic.
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Second woman at the Quai d'Orsay
On June 18, 2020, she welcomed Emmanuel Macron to the Residence of France in London, after the celebration ceremonies for the 80th anniversary of General de Gaulle's appeal.
She had made her office available to the president so that he could speak by telephone with Queen Elizabeth II, who was absent due to Covid restrictions.
Note that after appointing Elisabeth Borne Prime Minister, the second woman to take up the post since Edith Cresson in 1991, Emmanuel Macron also chose a woman at the Quai d'Orsay.
An event that only happened once under the Fifth Republic with Michèle Alliot-Marie, appointed in 2010 by Nicolas Sarkozy.
