French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin (AFP file photo)

    PARIS, May 31 (Xinhuanet) -- Outgoing French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said Tuesday he "will support with all his experience" his successor Dominique de Villepin and continue to serve the country in another way.

    Raffarin, who announced his resignation earlier Tuesday, said he had thought about his quit since May 18 and made the decision independently two days after French voters rejected the European Union (EU) constitutional treaty in Sunday's referendum.

    Also on Tuesday, President Jacques Chirac accepted Raffarin's resignation and named Dominique de Villepin as a replacement.

    A suave 51-year-old former foreign minister who moved to the interior ministry in March 2004, Villepin earned a worldwide reputation for his impassioned denunciation of the US-led war in Iraq.

    A dashing and silver-haired intellectual, Villepin has been Chirac's faithful servant since his appointment as the president's cabinet director exactly 10 years ago.

    Chirac was due to unveil the priorities of his new government in a nationally televised live address on Tuesday evening.

    Raffarin was born in 1948 into a prosperous family in the central French city of Poitiers. He began his political career as a supporter of president Valery Giscard d'Estaing in the 1970s andjoined Chirac's first government in 1995 as minister for small business.

    He served as premier from Chirac's re-election in 2002 but saw his popularity rating take a nose-dive to all-time lows in recent months.

    Analysts here said Sunday's rejection of the EU constitution inFrance, the first country to turn down the treaty, was a crushing blow to Chirac, who had put his authority on the line with multiple appeals for a "yes" vote. Enditem