France reshuffles government

Home>>World

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, April 01, 2004

France reshuffles government

The new French government with a major shake-up was announced Wednesday evening by the presidential office after a two-hour delay.Key ministers are changed in the new government.

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

The new French government with a major shake-up was announced Wednesday evening by the presidential office after a two-hour delay.

Key ministers are changed in the new government under the direction of Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin in the hope to better implement its reform policies and turn the tables in socialand economic situations before the European elections on June 13.

In the new government, the most eminent ministers stayed but with new mandates. Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy took over thekey position of finance minister. Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin replaced Sarkozy as Interior Minister. Michel Barnier, the European Union commissioner responsible for regional policy, replaced De Villepin at the Quai d'Orsay, or the Foreign Ministry,according to the Palace of Elysee.

Raffarin sent a clear message favoring social affairs by increasing the number of ministers and vice-ministers for social affairs from 9 to 13.

The 5 ministers for Social Affairs (against 3 in the previous government) are Jean-Louis Borloo, social cohesion minister; Philippe Douste-Blazy, health minister; Marie-Jose Roig (female), minister for family and children; Nicole Ameline (female), minister for professional equality and Renaud Dutreil, minister for public function and state reforms.

From now till the end of June, time wanted by French President Jacques Chirac, the new government will attack notably social insurance reforms and budget cuts, two main factors leading to theright's crushing defeat to the left in Sunday's regional elections.

Raffarin and Sarkozy will also examine the law on privatizationof two French state companies, the EDF (Electricity of France) andthe GDF (Gas of France), to which the Trade Unions of the two giants opposed and called to demonstrate on April 8.

The new government will bring the public deficit from 4.1 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) in 2003 to below the euro zone limit of 3 percent in 2005, as it pledged early March.

According to French Daily Le Monde in its Tuesday edition, French President Jacques Chirac on Tuesday made a contract with his Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, asking him to stay for 100 days until the European elections on June 13.

In the unprecedented contract between the two, Chirac asked Raffarin to recover the country's situation before the European elections, if he fails, he will quit the post, said Le Monde.

After the defeat of the center-right in Sunday's regional elections, Raffarin handed over the government's resignation to President Chirac, who accepted it but reappointed him later as prime minister and ordered him to form a new government Wednesday,Chirac's office said in a statement on Tuesday.

Chirac's decision aroused the discontent of the left, whose coalition of the Socialists (PS) and its Green and Communists allies got 50.15 percent of the vote and seized control of 24 of France's 26 regional assemblies in the Sunday second round elections.

Laurent Fabius, number 2 of the PS and former prime minister, said that Chirac was "deaf to the clear message that the French people sent to him on March 21 and 28."

"With reappointing Raffarin, Chirac chose to continue the same policy with the same team and will come to the same results. It ismore than an error, it's a mistake," said Tuesday Francois Hollande, number 1 of the PS.

Socialist leaders said a government reshuffle is not enough, and that the center-right must revamp its reform policies.

Source: Xinhua

Questions?Comments? Click here

French left wins regional elections

Chirac authorises Raffarin to form new French government

French president to visit Russia on April 3

Israel's killing of Yassin fuels conflict: Commentary ( 2 Messages)

How the US could improve its image abroad ( 14 Messages)

US urged not to fingerprint Chinese ( 10 Messages)

China hunts corrupt officials who abscond overseas ( 3 Messages)

Seven Chinese activists land on Diaoyu Islands ( 4 Messages)