Michèle Alliot-Marie had faced criticism over links with former regime in Tunisia and has been replaced by defence minister
Beleaguered French foreign minister Michèle Alliot-Marie has resigned after weeks of criticism over her links with the former regime in Tunisia.
She was replaced by the defence minister, Alain Juppé, a former prime minister convicted in a corruption scandal six years ago, in an unplanned but widely predicted government reshuffle.
Alliot-Marie, 64, known as MAM, insisted in her resignation letter that she had "committed no fault". She is one of the longest-serving ministers in France, having held many important cabinet posts, including defence and justice. She had been at the foreign ministry for just three months.
As civil unrest spread through the Arab world, Alliot-Marie committed a series of gaffes leading to her downfall. In January, she offered the services of French security forces to quell the uprising in Tunisia, just three days before protesters forced dictator Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali to flee.
Her judgment was further called into question when it was revealed she had spent a post-Christmas holiday in Tunisia and used a private jet belonging to a businessman allegedly close to the regime.
Alliot-Marie insisted her visit was a private holiday but it was later revealed her parents, on holiday with her, had bought shares in a property company owned by the same businessman and that she had spoken to Ben Ali by telephone.
The final straw came last week when a group of anonymous diplomats condemned French foreign policy as "amateur" and "impulsive", though their criticism was reported to be directed at president Sarkozy.
France has failed to get to grips with the pace of changes in the Arab world and popular uprisings in some of its former colonies. It was slow to react over the people's revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt and has come under fire for its links with Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. Sarkozy was expected on television last night to announce France's reaction to these events.
Juppé, 65, served as foreign secretary in the 1990s. In 2004, he was given an 18-month suspended sentence and banned from public office for 10 years for abuse of public funds. This was reduced to one year, and the sentence to 14 months suspended, on appeal.