France Unveils Center-Right Interim Government

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, May 09, 2002

France Unveils Center-Right Interim Government

The French presidential palace on Tuesday unveiled a 27-member right-wing interim government led by newly appointed Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin.

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The French presidential palace on Tuesday unveiled a 27-member right-wing interim government led by newly appointed Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin.

The "government of mission" consists of 15 ministers, six delegated ministers and six secretaries of state. Their average age was 50.8, six of them are women and 21 have never been in government before.

"We are a government of action," said Raffarin at French television TF1 in his first formal televised interview since he was nominated to the premiership on Monday morning.

"We will advance at the same speed as far as the republican authority and the social dialogue are concerned. They are the two pillars of the governmental action that I will conduct," he said.

Raffarin, 53, former senator and vice-president of the Liberal Democracy (Dl) party, is described as a low profile and pragmatic politician enjoying provincial roots.

Unlike most of France's ruling class, he was not graduated from the elite Ecole Nationale d'Administration (ENA) but from a Paris top business school.

Making law and order major theme of his presidential campaign, re-elected President Jacques Chirac offered his promise by creating a strengthened Ministry of Interior Affairs and Domestic Security.

Nicolas Sarkozy, 46, former budget minister and now Mayor of rich Paris suburb of Neuilly, was called upon to take the number 2 position in the cabinet. He is expected to take quick actions in coordinating the country's police and gendarmerie and setting up new anti-gang squads as well.

Francis Mer, 62, co-President of world's biggest steel group Arcelor and expert on privatization, was appointed finance, economy and industry minister.

Strong in labor negotiations and firmly backing European integration, Mer is the first industrialist leader to leave his post for the key economic ministry in the fifth Republic of France.

Michele Alliot-Marie, 55, Chairwoman of Chirac's Rally for the Republic (RPR), became Minister of Defense. With doctorates on law and political science, master's degree on ethnology and lawyer's certificate, she was the first woman defense minister in France.

Dominique de Villepin, 48, career diplomat and Chirac's close confident and chief of stuff, was named Foreign Minister.

Francois Fillon, 48, RPR member and President of regional council of Pays-de-la-Loire, was named Minister of Social Affairs.

Dominique Perben, 56, RPR member and Mayor of Chalon-sur-Saone became Minister of Justice.

The Ministry of Culture went to Jean-Jacques Aillagon, head of France's famous art museum Pompidou Center.

Luc Ferry, 51, philosopher and editor of French weekly magazine Le Point, was named Minister of Education.

Raffarin and his team will stay in office till and perhaps beyond June 16 if the right wins the legislative election. In the coming months, it can prepare law proposals for submission to an eventual right-wing dominated parliamentary.

The socialists, who hope to get back into power by winning the legislative poll, criticized the right-wing new cabinet as "close- minded."

"As far as open-mindedness goes, I do not think it is a good sign," said Francois Hollande, new leader of the Socialist party, adding that almost all ministers are close to Chirac and Alain Juppe, former RPR prime minister under Chirac from 1995 to 1997.

He predicted that the Raffarin-led "provisionary government" will remain in office till the legislative election.

The Green party said in a comment that the composition of the government as "very masculine, strongly marked by the right-ring at key posts."

Jean-Marie Le Pen, the defeated far-right presidential candidate, made a speech before Chirac unveiled his government, saying that Raffarin will step down in one month.

Le Pen and his neo-fascist Front National (FN) is aiming at staging a comeback at the legislative election.

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