UPDATE 1-Amelie de Montchalin named new French European affairs minister

French President Emmanuel Macron appointed legislator Amelie de Montchalin as new European affairs minister on Sunday to replace Nathalie Loiseau in a small, expected cabinet reshuffle two months before the European elections.

Loiseau quit her job on Wednesday to lead Macron's party for the European election campaign. The vote will be held in France and the other countries of the European Union in late May. Montchalin, 33, was first elected in the lower house in 2017 as a member of the centrist party backing Macron. She previously worked for insurance company AXA as deputy to the strategy director.

The government also appointed Macron's communication adviser Sibeth Ndiaye as government spokeswoman with the rank of junior minister and Cedric O, an economics adviser to Macron, as junior minister for digital economy. Senegal-born Ndiaye, 39, replaces Benjamin Griveaux, while O replaces Mounir Mahjoubi. Griveaux and Mahjoubi quit on Wednesday to prepare a candidacy for the Paris mayorship in 2020. (Reporting by Inti Landauro Editing by Edmund Blair)