France awaits new government as unpopular Hollande struggles to turn around economy

FILE - In this Oct. 23, 2013 file photo French Interior Minister, Manuel Valls pauses as he speaks to the media at the Elysee Palace in Paris. France's president has named 51-year-old Socialist Manuel Valls as the country's new prime minister, it was announced, Monday, March 31, 2014. In a prerecorded televised speech, Francois Hollande said Valls, the former interior minister, would lead a "combative government." (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Jan. 8, 2014 file photo, French Interior Minister Manuel Valls leaves the Elysee Palace after the weekly cabinet meeting, in Paris. France's president has named 51-year-old Socialist Manuel Valls as the country's new prime minister, it was announced, Monday, March 31, 2014. In a prerecorded televised speech, Francois Hollande said Valls, the former interior minister, would lead a "combative government." (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon, File) (The Associated Press)

PARIS – France's new prime minister is taking office and diving straight into a huge and thankless challenge: bringing back investors, jobs and hope to Europe's second-biggest economy.

Socialist President Francois Hollande, in need of a boost for his image and his country, named Manuel Valls on Monday as prime minister.

Valls is an energetic, popular figure seen as the most right-leaning politician in the Socialist leadership. He angered leftists by leading a tough line on crime and on Roma, or Gypsies, as interior minister.

Valls takes over Tuesday from Jean-Marc Ayrault, who struggled to keep his ministers in line and to persuade the French that his government was making the right economic decisions.

Valls is expected to name a new government imminently, with changes particularly expected in the Finance Ministry.