Francois de Rugy, president of the National Assembly, Parliament’s lower house, takes over at the Ecology Ministry French President Emmanuel Macron has picked a political ally and a former swimming world champion to plug two holes in his government left by the unexpected departures of the ministers for the environment and for sports. Francois de Rugy, president of the National Assembly, Parliament’s lower house, takes over at the Ecology Ministry. He replaces Nicolas Hulot, a popular green campaigner who quit last week, lamenting that not enough is being done against environmental destruction. The new sports minister, Roxana Maracineanu, was a backstroke world champion in 1998 and an Olympic silver medalist in 2000. She replaces Laura Flessel, a double Olympic gold medalist in fencing.