De Villepin is known for his anti-Iraq war stance and support for Arab causes.

PARIS, May 31, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - French President Jacques Chirac appointed Tuesday, May 31, Dominique de Villepin as his new prime minister, in a major government reshuffle in the aftermath of the country's massive rejection of the EU constitution.

De Villepin replaces the unpopular Jean-Pierre Raffarin, who resigned earlier in the day after serving three years in the worst job in French politics with approval ratings plummeting to the lowest in the country's modern history, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Chirac said after nearly 55 percent of French voters decisively turned down the landmark EU charter on Sunday, that he would give a “new and strong impulse to government action.”

The 72-year-old president, who staked his prestige on approval of the constitution, is to address the nation Tuesday evening.

Informed sources further told AFP that Nicolas Sarkozy, head of France's ruling Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party, is to be named interior minister in the new government.

Sarkozy, 50, who was consistently named in surveys as one of the country's most popular politicians, served as interior minister from 2002 to 2004 then as finance minister till 2005.

The sources said he will keep his position at the helm of the UMP.

In the meltdown following the rejection of the EU constitution, Chirac has turned to the innermost of his inner circle, said AFP.

Chirac has a close relationship with de Villepin and is said to treat him almost like the son he never had.

Dashing and silver-haired de Villepin has been a faithful aide to the French leader since his appointment as the newly elected president's cabinet director exactly 10 years ago.

He, however, was responsible in 1997 for one of the worst mistakes of Chirac's political career -- the decision to dissolve parliament and hold early elections which were then won by the Socialists, consigning the president to five years of unhappy “cohabitation” with the left.

But it was a measure of the bond between the two men that Chirac not only forgave his lieutenant but promoted him to the cabinet after his re-election in 2002.

After serving in 2003 as foreign minister, de Villepin became interior minister in Chirac's center-right government in March 2004, a post he has kept ever since.

The suave politician’s finest hour came in early 2003 when he was the spokesman for the international opposition to American war plans.

“Let us not forget that after winning the war, we must build the peace,” he told the UN Security Council on February 14 of that year.

His speech is now a standard text for students of international relations. It has even been set to music and released on CD.

De Villepin is also an acknowledged poet -- he has published several anthologies as well as political essays and a study of Napoleon Bonaparte.

He is also best known for his support to Arab causes.

Born in Morocco in November 1953, de Villepin was brought up then in Venezuela and New York, where he acquired his faultless English.

He studied at the elite National Administration School (ENA) in Paris before embarking on a career at the foreign ministry.

He served as first secretary at the French embassy in Washington and as first counselor in India, before being appointed cabinet director in 1993 for foreign minister Alain Juppe.

From there he was singled out for the Elysee palace two years later.