France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy named Prime Minister Francois Fillon head of a new smaller and more right-wing government yesterday evening, setting the stage for his undeclared 2012 re-election bid.
Despite months of intrigue in the run-up to the reshuffle, Mr Sarkozy retained his big hitters, while shifting rightwards in favour of a team more likely to fall in behind his government’s deficit-cutting austerity agenda.
Under a strengthened Fillon, Finance Minister Christine Lagarde and Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux remained in their jobs, while several other Sarkozy loyalists were promoted or saw their responsibilities widened.
Meanwhile, centre-right Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo – the number two figure in the outgoing government and until recent days a frontrunner to become Prime Minister himself – announced he was stepping down.
Popular Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, a former Socialist minister, was replaced by Gaullist Justice Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, and right-wing former Prime Minister Alain Juppe returned to government to take over defence.
In an ominous sign of splits in Mr Sarkozy’s support base, the outgoing defence minister, centre-right leader Herve Morin, denounced the new Cabinet line-up as a right-wing “campaign team” in which he had no place.
“France needs pluralism, and democracy needs balance. Since April 2010 the head of state has not agreed with this proposition, and so for my part I can’t remain in government,” said Mr Morin, who is mulling running against Mr Sarkozy.
The new Cabinet will also be less ethnically diverse, with the loss of outgoing urban development minister Fadela Amara, who is of North African descent, and sports minister Rama Yade, who was born in Senegal.
Mr Fillon vowed to boost France’s anaemic recovery and cut unemployment, and praised what he boasted was the commitment of Mr Sarkozy and his right-wing parliamentary majority to stick by unpopular but necessary reforms.
Mr Sarkozy’s own opinion poll approval ratings have dropped to around 30 per cent, as voters turn their backs on his domineering personal style or are outraged by austerity measures like his raising of the retirement age.