President Emmanuel Macron made a cabinet reshuffle on Monday for the second time in six weeks, urging his ministers to “hang in there”, be ambitious and willing to compromise.

The prime minister and finance minister roles remained the same, which indicated no policy changes and was slammed by the opposition as being tone-deaf, Reuters reports.

Following the loss of their absolute majority in the lower house of parliament in last month’s elections, President Macron’s government is now required to seek support from the opposition for every bill within the planned reforms.

"We must acknowledge the refusal of established parties to be part of a government agreement", Macron told ministers in the post-reshuffle cabinet meeting.

Macron said the political landscape was "exceptional" and the government needed "a lot of ambition, because the country needs reforms ... and a spirit of responsibility to build demanding compromises".

He urged his new government to “stand strong” amid the war in Ukraine “that has a profound impact on many things” and “transform” the heavily indebted French economy.

Moreover, the government is planning to put forward a bill to tackle the soaring cost of living, yet the opposition says Macron is out of touch with inflation.

Macron added that the government would focus on environmental challenges and “great demographic transitions”, working with local officials and businesses to “transform profoundly our collective action.”

New appointments include OECD deputy secretary general and chief economist, Laurence Boone taking over the role of minister for European affairs replacing Clement Beaune, who becomes the new transport minister. Former health minister Olivier Véran has the role of government spokesperson, whilst former equality minister Marlène Schiappa becomes secretary of state in charge of “social and solidarity economy and associative life”.