A new French cabinet was formed Sunday evening after four months of speculation, with the discreet but popular Francois Fillon to stay on as prime minister.

Immediately after President Nicolas Sarkozy's reappointment of Fillon was announced, the reshuffle was soon decried by critics as a meaningless change which breathed little fresh air into French politics at a time when Sarkozy is determined to go ahead with major reforms.

The new cabinet, consisting of 22 ministers (including 11 women) and 8 other members, shrank significantly in size from the previous one with 37 members. It may suggest that Sarkozy wants a smaller cabinet in a bid to save public expenditure, as he aims at driving down the soaring budget deficit.

There are several new faces after the reshuffle. Alain Juppe, ex-prime minister in former President Jacque Chirac's administration, returned as defense minister and the minister of state, the second-most important post in the cabinet.

Meanwhile, former Justice Minister Michele Alliot-Marie has replaced left-wing Bernard Kouchner as foreign minister and the second minister of state, while Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet took Jean-Louis Borloo's post as ecology minister.

Left-wing and centrist politicians criticized the shuffle as lacking practical change, which they say could disappoint those who are eager to see the government change course and place greater emphasis on social cohesion.

"France lives in the reappointment of a failed prime minister by a failed president over the problems of the French people," said left-wing Socialist Party Spokesman Benoit Hamon.

He said the reshuffle shows that the right-wing coalition had no more political alternatives in solving the country's austerity, which requires the sacrifice of the public.

"After 8 months, in the end, what's left is just the reappointment of the prime minister," said centrist Democratic Movement (Modem) President Francois Bayrou.

"Anyway, in the government, the only minister today is the president of the Republic," said Cecile Duflot, head of the Europe Ecologist Green Party Alliance.

Centrist Borloo, who had been heavily tipped to replace Fillon as prime minister, had already announced on Saturday his intention to quit. Press reports said he might have lost Sarkozy's favor due to his handling of the fuel crisis during pension strikes.

But Paul-Henri du Limbert, deputy director of the editorial department of right-wing newspaper Le Figaro, hailed Fillon's reappointment, saying the prime minister has a way to let the president know that he is highly indispensable.

Fillon has led the cabinet since Sarkozy took office in May 2007, with his popularity consistently higher than that of the president. Results of last week's LH2 opinion poll indicated that Sarkozy had only 35 percent of support, compared to Fillon's 48 percent.

With the 2012 presidential elections just months away, Sarkozy is anxious to shore up his popularity and the cabinet reshuffle could be a means to that end, commentators said.

The new cabinet will execute the reforms based on the political agenda of Sarkozy, who was elected on a reform platform in 2007. After a period devoted to the prioritized pension reform, the new ministers are expected to go ahead with reforms in the fields of medical health and employment.

Sarkozy is known as a hands-on president who centralizes power at his Elysee Palace. Local analysts said the new cabinet is unlikely to change his way of governing.