French President Francois Hollande sacked his environment minister Ms. Delphine Batho on Tuesday for describing this year's belt-tightening budget as a "bad" one for her ministry. Ms. Batho, whose ministry's budget was cut by seven per cent, is the first minister in the Socialist government to be axed for criticising policy. She is being replaced by Socialist lawmaker Philippe Martin.The 40-year-old was earlier summoned by Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault. French ministers are traditionally not supposed to criticise policy decisions publicly even if they are personally opposed to them.