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 The row is particularly embarrassing for President Francois
Hollande, who promised on entering power in 2012 to wind down
France's longstanding elite networks and appoint on pure merit.
Serges Lasvignes, 61, a top civil servant who since 2006 has
overseen the work of the prime minister's office, was on
Wednesday nominated president of the museum, whose modern art
collection is the world's second-largest behind New York's MOMA.
Questioning Lasvignes' lack of arts experience, prestigious art
magazine "Connaissance des Arts" asked whether it was a
justified choice.
"Or rather, given the little regard which Francois Hollande
appears to have for culture, is it about playing musical chairs
with a top civil servant to put someone else in his place?" it
said.
The magazine was referring to a wider reshuffle of top jobs in
the current administration in which a senior aide of former
prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, a long-time Hollande ally, is
expected to get a senior post.
Former Culture Minister Aurelie Filipetti, who lost her job last
August after opposing Hollande publicly over his economic
policy, said more transparency was merited.
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 "The key to avoiding these types of controversy is a system
of procedures," Filipetti told RTL radio. "We need procedures,
to appeal for candidates, to present a plan. We've gone back to
a practice for which we've been criticized."
Government spokesman Stephane Le Foll defended the move, saying
Lasvignes' qualities as an administrator were "absolutely
compatible with the (museum's) future challenges".
The Centre Pompidou had increased attendance levels during the
two terms of Alain Seban, now to be replaced by Lasvignes.
The controversy comes on the heels of another embarrass flap in
the French art world, the repeated delays in re-opening the
Picasso Museum in Paris after a turbulent period of public
squabbling and the ouster of the museum's president.
That museum finally opened in October.
(Reporting by Alexandria Sage; Editing by Mark John)
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