French President François Hollande evening news on French private channel TF1 and public channel France 2, from the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, February 11, 2016 | EPA/Stephane de Sakutin François Hollande pledges to keep reforming after cabinet reshuffle President brings back long-time ally Jean-Marc Ayrault and the Greens into government.

PARIS — French President François Hollande said Thursday night that he had instructed his government to “act, reform and go forward” just hours after he reshuffled the cabinet less than 15 months before the 2017 presidential election.

In a half-hour prime time interview on France’s two main television channels, Hollande said the government’s top priorities would remain the same: security, job creation and the environment.

Hollande earlier in the day had appointed the prime minister he sacked less than two years ago, Jean-Marc Ayrault, to the job of foreign minister.

The French president also appointed to the cabinet current or former leaders of the Green party, which formally opposes joining a coalition with the Socialists two years after storming out after disagreements with Hollande.

Both Ayrault and the Green leaders, as well as a couple of junior Socialist party ministers appointed on Thursday, had opposed the French president’s plans for constitutional reform, which will allow judges to strip those convicted of terror acts from their French passports.

Asked about those dissenting views, Hollande said he didn’t want to behave like an army officer disciplining all his subordinates for their previous views. “But once in government, they’re expected to abide by the government’s decisions," he said.

Backing for Macron

Hollande also pointedly supported his controversial Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron, who has often seemed more eager than his cabinet colleagues to tackle France’s structural impediments to growth and job creation.

“He has his own temper, and his CV is not your classical political CV," Hollande said. “I’d rather have talents in the government, than people who are just happy to comment outside.”

Macron, he said, “is opening new paths, and he can lead along the way.”

The interview was devoid of any presidential comment on sitting Prime Minister Manuel Valls, said to be in the throes of a bitter rivalry with Macron.

Although Hollande repeated three times during the interview that he wasn’t “prone to political calculations” – a protest that will be greeted with amused skepticism by the French political class and even within his own party — he also announced that he would organize a local referendum on the hot-button environmental issue of the Notre Dame des Landes airport near Nantes, in the west of the country.

After years of local protests and several lawsuits, a French court recently gave the go-ahead to the police to forcibly remove protesters who prevented works in the area.

If local voters turn down the airport plans, it won’t be built, he said. But if they agree, the works will go ahead.

New foreign minister Ayrault, a former long-time mayor of Nantes, has in the past bitterly clashed with the Green party and local protesters on the topic of the airport.

Ayrault will replace Laurent Fabius, whom Hollande nominated to the job of president of the Constitutional Council, which ensures laws comply with the constitution.

During his 2012-2014 stint as prime minister, Ayrault, 66, had limited dealings with foreign affairs, which in France are seen as the president’s preserve. His main foreign experience comes from the many travels he took to Germany in his time as a high-school German-language teacher.

Seeking support

By choosing Ayrault as Fabius’ successor, Hollande is replacing a French political heavyweight and one-time antagonist with a Socialist apparatchik with deep ties to the party machine.

Hollande, who remains deeply unpopular less than two years from the presidential election, aimed to bring in figures that might appeal to a wider electorate of left-wing and Green voters. Green party leader Emmanuelle Cosse was appointed housing minister but will have to resign from the party to take up that role.

Energy and Environment Minister Ségolène Royal, Hollande’s ex-partner who was briefly rumored to be in line for the foreign minister's role, will remain in her post. Hollande named Green party member Barbara Pompili as secretary of state for international relations on climate.

Hollande also took the opportunity to sack the culture minister, Fleur Pellerin, a former civil servant he had promoted to the job less than two years ago, after serving as undersecretary for small businesses.

Pellerin, who had never seemed to find her bearings in what is a high-profile job in France, will be replaced by Hollande’s current culture adviser Audrey Azoulay, 44.

In the interview, Hollande, who was questioned by France’s two best-known nightly news anchors, didn’t field a single question on Europe, the current Brexit negotiations or the refugee crisis — nor did he seem to think it necessary to dwell on those topics.

This article was updated to correct the name of the Green party leader.