On May 18, 2007, French President-elect Nicolas Sarkozy unveiled a 15-minister government consisting of seven women and left-wing human rights champion, Bernard Kouchner as Foreign Minister. Giving an equal share of cabinet positions to women, Sarkozy took his first steps toward achieving his declared aim of breaking France stagnant political past. The new team, announced one day following the announcement that Francois Fillon will take the helm as prime minister, the 15-member cabinet is a slimmed down version of the former Chirac-era administration.
With the female ministers, France joins the ranks of Chile, Finland, Sweden, and its closest neighbor, Spain, in seeking to end male domination of politics by creating gender parity in the government and balance the spectrum of political inputs. However, the make up of France’s ministers is just the beginning of Sarkozy’s anticipated “new France.”
France’s Dynamic Duo
On Thursday, May 17, 2007, French President-elect, Nicolas Sarkozy met with his new prime minister, Francois Fillon. It is likely the two met to discuss the first installments of Sarkozy’s ambitious reform program. Fillon, a four-time cabinet minister and widely touted as Sarkozy’s right-hand man, maintains a strong record of promoting economic change and successful negotiations with France’s labor unions. Sarkozy and Fillon share a generation and a belief that France’s labor market and tax code need a swift overhaul. Disagreeing with the former President’s labor policies, both men fell out of favor with Jaques Chirac. The two collaborated closely developing plans for Sarkozy’s presidency.
Fillon is quite mannered and a sharp contrast to Sarkozy’s perceived abrasiveness. The two however, share the belief that France’s resistance to economic reform can be overcome quickly. Both have experience dealing with a sometimes, unforgiving population. As former Interior Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy is often associated with violent riots that occurred in the streets of Parisian suburbs in 2005. Francois Fillon made his mark in 2003 by driving through extensive pension reforms as Social Affairs Minister.
Cabinet Ministers Are Stark Contrast to Chirac-Era France
Sarkozy revealed the first of his campaign-declared reforms on Friday, May 18, 2007, as he announced the creation of a 15-minister cabinet, a stark contrast to former President Jacques Chirac’s 16 full ministers and 15 junior ministers. Touted as a radical change to the government, Sarkozy’s 15-minister cabinet offers both youth and experience, and near-equal representation among the genders. Notable appointees include former humanitarian Bernard Kouchner as France’s new foreign minister, former Defense Minister, Michele Alliot-Marie is now its interior minister, and Sarkozy’s right hand campaign advisor, Rachita Dati as the head of the Justice Ministry.
On the campaign trail Sarkozy promised a new ministry of immigration and national identity, a top focus on environmental issues and near-gender equality. The most surprising in the conservative-led government is left wing Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner, who is co-founder of the humanitarian assistance non-governmental organization, Doctors Without Borders. Also of note, Jean-Louis Borloo was appointed as minister for the economy, and Herve Morin, a rival center-right party member was selected as the Minister of Defense.
President-elect Sarkozy initially intends to supervise his government closely via a hands on presidency rather than maintaining a regal distance as Chirac had. To that end, we will likely see Prime Minister Fillon playing the role of vice-president, rather than chief executive.
Airbus Meeting Indicative of Sarkozy’s “New France”
On May 18, 2007, Sarkozy met with trade union officials at European airline giant, Airbus’s headquarters in Toulouse. The meeting was the beginning of an attempt to extract the aerospace company, EADS, from an economic downturn that threatens its survival and its long-standing relationship with Germany. Sarkozy promised to intervene last winter when Airbus announced a rescue plan in which 10,000 jobs would be shed across the region, most of them in France and Germany. He wants to revamp the dual national management structure that survived from the company’s time as a state-managed consortium and make Airbus a classic commercial operation – a tough ambition considering the French State holds a mere 15 percent stake in the organization and has no power of decision.
While Sarkozy’s proposed ambitious reforms during his campaign and the Airbus meeting was the first of such events that he hopes will change France. In contrast with his predecessor, Sarkozy intends to more firmly place France into the European landscape while at the same time, seeks to focus on its domestic issues like the economy and immigration. To that effect, following a meeting with German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, Sarkozy called the Airbus situation a priority in his reforms, second only to re-launching France’s dominant role in the European Union.
Future Looks Bright
President-elect Sarkozy has a difficult but potentially bright future ahead of him. The country will likely find his new brand of policy measures difficult to embrace at first, but we believe if the programs are implemented successfully, the general population will likely support him.
We expect to see further reforms as a result of Sarkozy’s plans for the nation. We view immigration and terrorism as the next priorities.
