Hollande dismisses environment minister

PARIS - French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday dismissed environment minister Delphine Batho and appointed Phillipe Martin to head the country's ecology affairs.

"Following the prime minister's proposal, the president put an end to the mission of Delphine Batho and appointed Philippe Martin as new Minister for Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy," the Elysee Palace said in a statement.

Earlier, speaking to the local radio RTL, Batho, 40, criticized a "bad" Socialists' ecology 2014 budget which allocated 7 percent less financial resources to environmental issue.

"I hope in the coming days, we can demonstrate the willingness to make France the nation's of environmental excellence and of energy transition and that they are not e variable adjustment," Batho said.

She was summoned by the Premier Prime Jean-Marc Ayrault, after making public critics over the government's belt-tightening budget.

"From the moment that Delphine Batho, who is a qualified woman, had judged negatively the budget, there was an obvious problem of expression of government's coherence and therefore the decision was taken," Foreign Affairs Minister Laurent Fabius told news channel iTele.