De Villepin continues task of forming government
Newly named French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin kept up the task today of trying to form a new government, while a poll suggested the former diplomat with an aristocratic bearing just might have a chance with the people.
De Villepin met with President Jacques Chirac on his third trip to the presidential Elysée Palace in two days.
Last night, in his first television interview since his appointment on Tuesday, de Villepin said the government will be pared down from its current size of 40 ministers and deputy ministers. He also said its priority will be tackling France’s 10% jobless rate.
So far, the only person sure to be part of the new team is former Finance and Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.
Chirac said this week that Sarkozy would hold the number-two slot, but did not name the post. It is widely assumed he will return to the Interior Ministry, where he raised his profile in the past.
Guessing games were running rampant among reporters at the prime minister’s office who noted the comings and goings of every official. Among those meeting with de Villepin today was former Prime Minister Alain Juppe.
Chirac’s one-time heir apparent, Juppe is serving a one-year ban from elected office because of his conviction in a party-financing scandal. But the ban would not technically stop Juppe from being a minister, a post which in France is open to unelected officials.
De Villepin has never been elected. He is seen by some as Chirac’s possible choice to succeed him when his mandate ends in 2007 – a job Sarkozy also is eyeing.
A poll today showed nearly six in 10 French regard de Villepin’s appointment as a “good thing”, despite criticism that he has never been elected and is too distant and aristocratic.
The poll indicated the longtime diplomat – who drew a flurry of criticism from politicians on the left and far-right – might fare better with the deeply discontented French.
Chirac fired his previous prime minister and appointed de Villepin after French voters delivered a stinging rejection of the EU constitution in a referendum last Sunday.
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