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France's Sarkozy to shuffle cabinet in coming days
Source: Agencies |
November 10, 2010, Wednesday
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PRESIDENT Nicolas Sarkozy could reshuffle his cabinet as early as next week, government sources said yesterday, as he seeks to move on from an unpopular pension reform and look ahead to a 2012 election.
Sources say he will retain Francois Fillon, a capable ally who appeals to his core conservative electorate, as prime minister, and could bring in Alain Juppe, a former prime minister and heavyweight of the ruling centre-right UMP party.
Sarkozy is still fine-tuning his choices for ministries like finance and foreign affairs, the sources said, but will serve up a trimmer cabinet with a better gender balance and redraw some ministry lines as he aims to put a messy showdown with unions over pension reform behind him.
Sarkozy said back in July he would switch ministers around following a reform of the pension system aimed at stemming a gaping funding deficit. He could announce the changes as soon as Monday, after he returns from the G20 summit in Seoul.
"At a breakfast with the ruling party this morning, there was talk of a reshuffle that would be finalised this weekend and announced at the beginning of the week," a source close to the centre-right government told Reuters.
Separately, an official at the ruling UMP party said on condition of anonymity that the fact France's Constitutional Council removed the last hurdle to the pension reform yesterday made it likely the reshuffle would happen early next week.
Stuck with dismal approval ratings and loathed by millions of French for putting off their retirement by two years, Sarkozy needs to put a fresh face on his government if he is to rescue his dismal popularity ratings before an April 2012 presidential election that will pit him against a resurgent left.
This will be Sarkozy's second reshuffle after he switched his labour and budget ministers after the UMP was thrashed by a resurgent left in regional elections in early 2010.
PRIME MINISTERIAL HAIRDO
French media has been in a frenzy of speculation about what a new cabinet will look like, even seizing on a change in Energy Minister Jean-Louis Borloo's tousled hairdo to a neater "more prime ministerial" style as evidence he was a possible contender to replace Fillon.
Fillon, who is more popular in opinion polls than Borloo and is perceived as well-placed to run national affairs while Sarkozy is busy with the presidency of the Group of 20 major economies from next week, is now widely expected to stay on in his post.
Government sources say Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner will be moved, along with Defence Minister Herve Morin, and Labour Minister Eric Woerth is expected to go after he was linked to a political funding scandal.
"His only certainty at this stage is the architecture of the government, which will be tightened and gender-balanced," the UMP source said of Sarkozy's choices.
Earlier yesterday the Constitutional Council approved the bill, already passed by parliament, to raise the minimum and fully pensionable retirement ages by two years to 62 and 67 respectively. Sarkozy is expected to sign it into law in the next couple of days.
Sarkozy fanned speculation he has made his main choices for a new government when he called several of his ministers in for one-on-one meetings over the weekend.
Sarkozy will be in Seoul Thursday and Friday for a G20 leadership summit but has a handy window at the start of next week before he travels to Lisbon for a Nov. 19-20 NATO summit.
The government sources said Sarkozy could still opt to put off the announcement until the week of November 22.
Sources say he will retain Francois Fillon, a capable ally who appeals to his core conservative electorate, as prime minister, and could bring in Alain Juppe, a former prime minister and heavyweight of the ruling centre-right UMP party.
Sarkozy is still fine-tuning his choices for ministries like finance and foreign affairs, the sources said, but will serve up a trimmer cabinet with a better gender balance and redraw some ministry lines as he aims to put a messy showdown with unions over pension reform behind him.
Sarkozy said back in July he would switch ministers around following a reform of the pension system aimed at stemming a gaping funding deficit. He could announce the changes as soon as Monday, after he returns from the G20 summit in Seoul.
"At a breakfast with the ruling party this morning, there was talk of a reshuffle that would be finalised this weekend and announced at the beginning of the week," a source close to the centre-right government told Reuters.
Separately, an official at the ruling UMP party said on condition of anonymity that the fact France's Constitutional Council removed the last hurdle to the pension reform yesterday made it likely the reshuffle would happen early next week.
Stuck with dismal approval ratings and loathed by millions of French for putting off their retirement by two years, Sarkozy needs to put a fresh face on his government if he is to rescue his dismal popularity ratings before an April 2012 presidential election that will pit him against a resurgent left.
This will be Sarkozy's second reshuffle after he switched his labour and budget ministers after the UMP was thrashed by a resurgent left in regional elections in early 2010.
PRIME MINISTERIAL HAIRDO
French media has been in a frenzy of speculation about what a new cabinet will look like, even seizing on a change in Energy Minister Jean-Louis Borloo's tousled hairdo to a neater "more prime ministerial" style as evidence he was a possible contender to replace Fillon.
Fillon, who is more popular in opinion polls than Borloo and is perceived as well-placed to run national affairs while Sarkozy is busy with the presidency of the Group of 20 major economies from next week, is now widely expected to stay on in his post.
Government sources say Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner will be moved, along with Defence Minister Herve Morin, and Labour Minister Eric Woerth is expected to go after he was linked to a political funding scandal.
"His only certainty at this stage is the architecture of the government, which will be tightened and gender-balanced," the UMP source said of Sarkozy's choices.
Earlier yesterday the Constitutional Council approved the bill, already passed by parliament, to raise the minimum and fully pensionable retirement ages by two years to 62 and 67 respectively. Sarkozy is expected to sign it into law in the next couple of days.
Sarkozy fanned speculation he has made his main choices for a new government when he called several of his ministers in for one-on-one meetings over the weekend.
Sarkozy will be in Seoul Thursday and Friday for a G20 leadership summit but has a handy window at the start of next week before he travels to Lisbon for a Nov. 19-20 NATO summit.
The government sources said Sarkozy could still opt to put off the announcement until the week of November 22.
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