Culture minister Rachida Dati steps down to launch her Paris mayoral campaign, calling the upcoming elections “the battle of my life”

PARIS: France’s conservative culture minister Rachida Dati announced she has resigned to launch her bid for mayor of Paris.

Dati, 60, called the municipal elections starting in two and a half weeks “the battle of my life”.

“I am going to change Paris and the lives of Parisians,” she told broadcaster BFMTV.

She said she had handed her resignation to President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday morning.

The outspoken minister had survived a series of cabinet reshuffles since January 2024.

This was despite facing corruption charges for which she will appear in court in the autumn.

She said that despite budget cuts she had managed to limit damage to the cultural sector during her time as minister.

But her tenure was marked by turbulence at the Louvre Museum.

This included strikes and a dramatic jewellery heist in October.

 The Sun Malaysia