France’s hugely popular Interior Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, was handed the job this week of spearheading an immensely unpopular programme of reforms as President Jacques Chirac made sweeping changes to his Cabinet after the centre-right’s humiliating defeat in regional elections.
Sarkozy was appointed Finance Minister in a major reshuffle that also saw Chirac’s close ally, the smooth and aristocratic Foreign Minister, Dominique de Villepin, take over at the Interior Ministry, and a European commissioner, Michel Barnier, step into De Villepin’s shoes at the Quai d’Orsay.
Chirac has come under mounting pressure to show that he has heard the electorate’s message of widespread discontent with government spending cuts in Sunday’s second-round vote, which saw the Socialist opposition win a landslide victory with 21 of mainland France’s 22 regional councils and a 50% share of the national vote, compared with 37% for the ruling conservatives.
The president’s decision on Tuesday to give his embattled Prime Minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, a 10-week stay of execution until at least the European elections in June was met with incredulity in the Socialist camp.
Chirac was accused of ignoring the wishes of the people, even of insulting them.
The affable Raffarin is seen as unpopular, burned out and so severely weakened by the regional election pounding that he will be unable to push through the government’s moderate but on the whole necessary cost-cutting reforms, particularly to France’s prized but heavily indebted health service, without provoking a potentially crippling series of strikes and demonstrations.
”On the one hand we have a society which has shown its anger in dramatic fashion. On the other, we have political leaders who are displaying a certain deafness,” said Jerome Sainte-Marie of the polling organisation BVA. ”It is quite an explosive cocktail.”
Sarkozy, on the other hand, who constantly tops opinion polls as France’s most popular politician, may have the charisma, stature and gift of the gab for the job. The appointment has the added benefit for Chirac that if he fails to convince France’s fickle voters of the need for reform, Sarkozy will see his bid to become president in 2007 badly undermined. He faces a huge task overcoming anger over high unemployment, pension reform and budget cuts.
The new job will make or break Sarkozy’s ambitions. The minister, who has so far made a name for himself by cracking down successfully on street crime, illegal immigrants and prostitution, is by no means certain to make such a success of his new and considerably less high-profile role as head of government finances.
”This is an interim appointment,” said one commentator, Marie Eve Malouine.
”It’s setting up De Villepin to take over from Raffarin as prime minister, probably after the June elections, and establishing his credentials as Chirac’s preferred successor. This is all about keeping out Sarkozy.” — Â