International Herald Tribune Editorial - France's new leader makes a quick break with the past

International Herald Tribune Editorial - France's new leader makes a quick break with the past
Copyright by The International Herald Tribune
Published: May 23, 2007


President Nicolas Sarkozy promised his countrymen a break with the past, and he has not wasted time.

The leaner, 15-member cabinet that Sarkozy introduced two days after he was sworn in last week is led by Prime Minister François Fillon, who is credited with reforming the pension system in the last government.

The new foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, the founder of Médecins sans Frontières who was awarded a Nobel Prize and who is a hugely popular figure on the French Left, is a global activist sympathetic to the United States.

Other members include a woman of Arab descent as justice minister, a one-time heir-apparent to ex-President Jacques Chirac at a new super-ministry for the Environment, a defector from the centrist party at Defense, and the woman who used to be defense minister as the country's top cop at the Interior Ministry.

Political opponents, women and generally new faces in a country accustomed to loyal members of the elite at the top are strong signals, as were Sarkozy's first words and actions. He proclaimed at his inauguration that his priorities would include a Mediterranean Community, climate change, and friendship with the United States. The same evening he flew off for a dinner with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, where he declared, "I've come as a European, a friend, fully aware there must be results, and that we are out of time."

It was all meant to demonstrate that Sarkozy was serious when he pledged immediate reforms on all fronts. And it was certainly an impressive whirl after the pompous inaction of the last Chirac years.

Sarkozy's next hurdle is the Parliamentary elections in June, and polls indicate that he will take those by storm as well, which would give him a stronger political launching pad than any French president has had in decades.

The new president also has signaled that he will be an active, hands-on boss on domestic, foreign and security affairs.

One sign of this was the return to Paris of Jean-David Levitte, the respected French ambassador to the United States, to set up an American-style national security council in the Elysée.

The real tests lie ahead, of course. But Sarkozy, in turn, has put together a team that exudes competence, diversity and energy. This is one French revolution that might actually be fun to watch.