France's Macron: need to acknowledge refusal of other parties to be part of government

French President Emmanuel Macron, who lost absolute majority in parliament in last month's legislative elections, said on Monday the new government announced earlier was the result of the refusal of political parties other than his to be part of it.

"We must acknowledge the refusal of established parties to be part of a government agreement", he said shortly before the first meeting of the new cabinet.

Key roles such as the prime minister and finance minister remained unchanged in the reshuffle that signalled no policy changes and was criticised by the opposition as being tone-deaf after June's elections.