UMP leadership battle - Xavier Bertrand "passes" and Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet withdraws

It has been a fascinating (stifle those yawns) couple of days in the contest to find the next leader of the opposition centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement,UMP).

First up Xavier Bertrand, announced at the weekend that he wouldn't be standing in the election scheduled for November.

And on Monday, the day before the deadline for nominations closed, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet (NKM) said she was pulling out of the race.

Yes, the contest to find the next leader of the party is definitely...er...cooling down?

Bertrand's decision proved to be one noteworthy for its content, especially in saying something that wasn't about to happen. Remember Alain Juppé also used the same tactics recently to declare his non-participation.

But the former minister and one-time secretary general of the party also managed to spice things up a little by making journalists reach for their diaries in true François Hollande style (as humorist and impersonator Nicolas Canteloup keeps reminding listeners every morning on Europe 1 radio, the country's president now has an "agenda" or timetable) to note that he would be running in the party's primaries to choose its candidate in the 2017 presidential (of the country, that is) elections.

"I don't want to confuse matters and it's a coherent choice and a transparent one," he said.

Talk about forward planning (yes that's tautologous) in all its glorious splendour. It certainly earned something of a snorting response from Juppé who, when asked what he thought about Bertrand's announcement said with more than a hint of irony that, "Without doubt, some politicians never change. You just have to smile at their impatience given the situation the country finds itself in today."

So no "Bertrand for presidency of the UMP" even though he apparently has the necessary support of party activists to be able to stand.

Nominations close on Tuesday and potential candidates have to present almost 8,000 (or 7,924 to be precise) signatures to qualify for the first round.

And no NKM either because (handkerchieves at the ready) she reportedly hasn't managed to gather enough backing.

"I have been trying to collect sufficient signatures to be able to stand," she told Europe 1 radio.

"But at the last reckoning, I had gathered just under 7,000 so I'm withdrawing which is a shame as I had hoped to bring my ideas to help lead the party."

Neither Bertrand nor NKM has said who they'll be voting for in a race which is likely to figure  former prime minister François Fillon and current secretary general Jean-François Copé  in a slugfest, or as NKM described it, "an excess of testosterone which could render any real debate sterile."

So in true sloppy journalistic style - when there's nothing more to say about a story or the person reporting it cannot think of a way to wrap things up - who either of them will plump for in the end "remains to be seen" or "only time will tell".

The end - for now.





NKM : "Je n'aurai pas les parrainages nécessaires" par Europe1fr

Incomplete political faction - and what if there were a Royal coup within the UMP?

Have you noticed how much the centre-right opposition Union pour un Mouvement Populaire
(Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) is coming to resemble the Socialist party of just a few years ago.

Ségolène Royal (screenshot from TV report after Socialist party primaries)

The reference is not of course to political ideology but in terms of the internal power struggle which is set to heat up.

There's a race for the vacant position of party president, due to be elected in November, and already a slew of candidates - former ministers in the main - have let it be known they're interested in the post either as a way of uniting the party or making a stab at a run for the 2017 presidential elections - or both.

(With former positions in brackets) the front runners are likely to be François Fillon (prime minister) who has already declared he's a candidate, and the party's current secretary-general Jean-François Copé, who's not yet officially announced his decision but has already begun campaigning.

At the weekend Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet (ecology) said she would be a candidate joining Bruno Le Maire (agriculture) in the hunt for the 8,000 party signatories necessary to be eligible to stand.

The mayor of Nice and most definitely orange-faced one, Christian Estrosi (industry) is "not excluding" the possibility and neither is Rachida Dati (justice) who, even though she supports Copé and can't stand Fillon, has mooted the idea of a possible trio of women sharing the post.

Xavier Bertrand (employment) is apparently giving himself until the autumn before he comes up with a decision and François Baroin is also reportedly contemplating more than his just navel.

And if the choice for party activists were not already difficult enough, word on the grapevine is that they'll have a perhaps royally unwelcome presence among the starters.

Because a veteran of past battles ingloriously lost is thought to be considering entering the fray.

Yes you've guessed it. Some have suggested that Ségolène Royal will make a stab at yet another political office - a move which could very well put the proverbial cat among the pigeons and see UMP activists rally behind anyone who might save the party from a fate worse than the recent two electoral defeats.

Seggers to run? Surely a joke - you might be thinking.

Well it might be something of a stretch, but take a look at her record of campaigning and the idea doesn't sound so ridiculous, does it?

In 2007 she was the Socialist party's candidate in the presidential elections of that year, having, against all odds, secured the support of a majority of the party's rank and file members.

Sadly (or not) the party apparatchiks weren't so enthusiastic (and nor was the electorate at large it transpired) lobbing the political equivalent of a Molotov cocktail at every turn in the form a none-too discreet "Tout sauf Ségolène" campaign - an element that was to become something of a leitmotif within the party.

Never one to lie down after defeat, Seggers turned her attention towards the leadership of the Socialist party a year later, leading a bitter campaign against the eventual winner, Martine Aubry, whom she accused of having won an election characterised by "fraud and cheating."

Ho hum.

An attempt to secure the party's nomination as its candidate in this year's presidential elections ended in tears as Seggers finished a distant fourth after the first round with just 6.5 per cent of the vote.



And most recently there have of course been yet more tears as she struggled to put on the bravest of faces after coming under the Tweet-powered attack from the minister of jealousy, Valérie Trierweiler, during her unsuccessful attempt to land a seat in the national assembly.

Yes Seggers is battle-hardened but far from weary and surely ready for anything the UMP might be able to throw at her, including a former ally and advisor, Éric Besson.

He was on her 2007 campaign team but "defected" to the other side just a few months before the election having decided that her economic programme was flawed and the (Socialist) party not ready for power.

Ah yes, the beauty of French politics; Besson once an advisor to Royal and a member of the Socialist party, changed camps, joined the party of Nicolas Sarkozy, and became immigration minister to a man whom he had once described as "a US neocon with a French passport”

So who's to say that an unsubstantiated rumour about Segger's intents couldn't in fact become reality?

Stranger things have happened.

Just for the record, although there is a certain amount of "fact" in this piece, there is also a(n) (un)healthy dollop of "fiction".

Much like French politics really.

Xavier Bertrand's slip of the tongue "in defence" of Fat Cat salaries

Ah what would the world be without the occasional political gaffe?

The previous centre-right led Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) government was full of ministers capable of delivering a howler or two.

Former justice minister Rachida Dati proved herself to be adept at unintentional sexual references when speaking of "oral sex" ("fellation") rather than "inflation" during an interview on foreign investment funds.

Her slip up made the subject so much more...er...interesting.

And on another occasion she managed to introduce "dildo" ("gode") rather than "code" (of conduct) into an interview about  laicity and Islam.

Dati wasn't alone of course. There was also Frédéric Lefebvre the (wait for it) junior minister for trade, small and medium enterprises, tourism, services, liberal professions and consumption (where was the kitchen sink?) who showed his literary prowess when asked which classic French work had made the biggest impact on him.

Sadly Lefebvre came up with the ready-to-wear clothes company "Zadig ET Voltaire" rather than "Zadig BY Voltaire.

And let's not forget Nadine Morano (who could?) when...well, she said just about anything that came into her mind or struck her fancy but perhaps the most memorable was  confusing "Renaud" the singer and "Renault" the car manufacturer.

Mary Hopkins time:

                        "Those were the days my friend,
                        We thought they'd never end."

The new government hasn't quite got into its stride yet, but that doesn't matter.

The new opposition - or the former government if you like - is proving itself to be well up to the job of maintaining a strangehold on the art of delivering a lapsus linguae.

More on than in a moment.

First some background.

The recently-elected French president, François Hollande, is on something of an exemplary cost-cutting exercise.

One of his first decisions was to reduce ministers' pay by around a third.

It was a campaign promise and one he "made good on" as soon as the new 34-strong government was named.

Next up is the pledge to cap the salaries given to the big cheeses of companies which are state-controlled or, in the case of nuclear power plant builder Areva or utility giant EDF, it still has a majority stake.

The government is apparently still working out the fine print but is expected to announce in mid-June that top company executives' pay will be limited to 20 times that of the lowest paid worker.

An end, in part, to the so-called fat cat syndrome in companies such as EDF (84 state-owned) where CEO Henri Proglio reportedly earned a miserly €1.6 million in 2011.

Of course some might try to argue that setting a "maximum salary" will make it difficult for state-owned companies to attract top talent and it'll be nigh on impossible to impose on the private sector.

But few could argue against the injustice that exists between some top earners and those at the opposite end of the scale.

Well that's unless you happen to be a Xavier Bertrand, the former minister for labour, social affairs and solidarity in the last government under prime minister François Fillon.

Xavier Bertrand (screenshot Europe 1 interview)

Bertrand was the invited guest on Europe 1 radio on Thursday morning and perhaps revealed a little more than he intended - albeit by means of a slip-of-the-tongue - about the thinking behind the previous government's attitude.

"I've always been in favour of excessive salaries (for top executives) " he told journalist Jean-Pierre Elkabbach.

"I said as much when I was a member of the previous government and I'm not going to change my mind now."

Elkabbach, seasoned journalist that he is, interrupted just to make sure he had heard correctly and in so doing allowed Bertrand to correct his mistake.

"Always in favour of excessive salaries?" questioned Elkabbach.

"Ah certainly not," replied Bertrand calmly, realising his error.

"I've always been in favour of limiting excesses (of payment)," he said.

"Whether it's in a period of crisis or not, it's always necessary to set a good example."

Ah, it's so good to hear and see that some things about the UMP haven't changed.

Sarkozy's government reshuffle and the Neuilly-sur-Seine "quintuplets"

Much has been made over the past couple of days of the government reshuffle here in France.

For some perhaps it was a case of "out with the old and in with the older" as familiar faces such as Alain Juppé and Xavier Bertrand made a return to the political front line and a whole heap of potential electoral threats in the 2012 presidential race were summarily dispatched to pastures new.

But while the instinct is perhaps to get bogged down in the minutiae of what it all means - or doesn't - politically speaking, there are of course some slightly more irreverent angles on the current line-up of ministers.

There's the fact that Michèle Alliot-Marie, a stalwart of the ruling centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) now takes over at the foreign ministry; her fourth consecutive top notch job (following defence, interior and justice) since she re-entered the government back in 2002.

And there's the appointment of her partner Patrick Ollier as the minister responsible for parliamentary relations, making the pair perhaps the most politically powerful couple in France, and the subject of a smile or two maybe as they attend their first cabinet meeting together on Wednesday.

If that were not enough, there's also the "bizarre" (as the French website Le Post puts it) coincidence that no fewer than five of the now 31-strong government (cabinet and junior ministers combined) were born in the same place.

Where?

Neuilly-sur-Seine, the swanky, wealthy suburb to the west of the French capital, and very much the former stomping ground of the French president himself.

Rue Berteaux-Dumas, Neuilly-sur-Seine, (from Wikipedia, author - Metropolitan)

Sarkozy was mayor of the town from 1983 to 2002.

He spent much of his childhood in Neuilly and his mother, Andrée, still lives there.

Sarkozy's second son, Jean, is currently a regional councillor representing the town in which he, of course, was born.

As France 2 television points out, the French sociologist Michel Pinçon doesn't find it so surprising that Sarkozy has turned to those whose roots are in a town which "embodies social excellence" even if it is a place which in no way reflects the rest of the country.

"It's the town which has the highest number of people paying wealth tax in France," he writes in the book he co-authored with his wife, Monique, "Le président des riches".

"Even being born in Neuilly and not necessarily living there is of social significance."

All right, so it might be stretching a point somewhat to imply that Neuilly has somehow become Sarkozy's preferred recruiting territory.

But perhaps it's something to mull over during Tuesday evening's hour-plus television broadcast (on three channels) when Sarkozy will doubtless deny the suggestion (should he be asked) that his reshuffle is nothing more than strengthening his position within the UMP to run for re-election in 2012.

Just for the record the Neuilly "quintuplets", as Le Post calls them, are Brice Hortefeux, Frédéric Lefebvre, Bruno Le Maire, Valérie Pécresse and Georges Tron.

French support gay parents' adoption rights

According to a survey carried out by BVA for the television channel Canal +, 57 per cent of those questioned think gay and lesbian couples should be allowed to adopt while 41 per cent are against.

In a similar poll carried out three years ago only 48 per cent of the French were in favour of gay couples having the right to adopt.

Coming just days after a court in the eastern French town of Besançon overruled a regional assembly's decision which had prevented a 48-year-old lesbian from adopting child, the issue on whether same-sex couples should be allowed to adopt now seems to be a matter of public debate.

Reaction to the latest survey from the governing centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) party came swiftly as its leader, Xavier Bertrand, was the invited guest on the Canal + early morning news magazine, La Matinale.

And as far as Bertrand was concerned there would be no change in his party's opposition to allowing same-sex couples to adopt.

"There's a lot of talk today about the right to have a child, but for me the priority has to be the rights of the child," he said.

"In a society where there's constant upheaval and change a child needs to have a point of reference, and that means having a mother and a father," he added.

While Bertrand's views might reflect those of many in his party, there are others who at least want the issue debated.

Most notably the junior minister for family, Nadine Morano, who said on national radio earlier in the week that while there were no government plans to change the law, it was nonetheless something that warranted discussion.

"The debate needs to be opened," she said.

"Why not during the next presidential election in 2012?" she added.

"France needs to deal with its hypocrisy," she continued, perhaps a reference to the fact that adoption by single gay men or lesbians is allowed in France and there are currently 30,000 children living in single-parent gay families.

Another member of the government, Hervé Morin, who is leader of the centre-right Nouveau Centre (New Centre) and also the French defence minister went further saying that he was in favour of homosexual couples being allowed to adopt.

Quick end to striptease during French political party's evening entertainment

It's clearly not an easy job holding public office and refraining from "putting your foot in it" occasionally with a throwaway comment especially in these days when every remark can be picked up so easily on a mobile 'phone and quickly find its way to a wider audience via the Net.

Surely that's why advisors, spokespeople and spin doctors are on hand to ensure damage limitation when necessary.

And without question, putting politicians in a potentially compromising position is something organisers of any event to which they're invited strive to avoid.

Well you would think so, wouldn't you?

Somehow though that simple reality seemed to have escaped organisers of a soirée for parliamentary members of the ruling centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) last week.

The party's good and great from both the National Assembly and the Senate were gathered for two days in Le Touquet in northern France to talk about matters political; planned reforms, economic growth and a whole host of other issues.

As is the case with such meetings it wasn't a matter of "all work and no play" with an evening's entertainment in one of the town's hotels being organised to which parliamentarians along with their wives, staff and journalists were invited.

As the weekly satirical newspaper Le Canard enchaîné, reports precautions were taken to ensure that there wasn't a repeat episode of what had happened just a few weeks earlier at the party's summer conference in Seignosse in southwestern France.

That was when the interior minister, Brice Hortefeux, was captured on camera making what many in France considered to be a racist comment.

A lesson learned apparently as those attending the soirée were requested to leave their mobile 'phones in the cloakroom.

A move that was probably just as well given the circumstances because, as the newspaper reports, part of the evening's entertainment included a performance by "two superb creatures very skimpily dressed."

Yes someone had apparently booked a couple of strippers for the audience's enjoyment!

Now what had exactly been running through the minds of those who had arranged for the two young ladies to appear in the first place must of course be open to question.

But the reaction of those present was less than enthusiastic, says the paper with many, such as the party's secretary general Xavier Bertrand and the junior minister for housing, Benoist Apparu, more than "keeping their distance".

After less than 10 minutes though (thankfully) someone had the presence of mind to usher the two women out of the room, and they never returned.

So a potentially embarrassing incident avoided and nothing harmful that could have made its way to the Net, although the two women didn't seem to understand why they hadn't been allowed to continue their performance if what they're quoted by the newspaper as saying is anything to go by.

"We came from Paris and we had been booked for the whole evening," they said.

"And we had brought with us four suitcases packed with different costumes."

French government takes a break

You know summer is well and truly in full swing when the country's politicians pack up their bags and head off on their hols.

This year the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has given government ministers a three-week break.

Set aside the weather, disregard perhaps that it's the silly season for television and in particular for news, with so-called lighter stories dominating the bulletins.

Don't even think about the traffic chaos predicted for this weekend as juilletists (those who traditionally take their break in July) pack their bags and head home to be replaced by aoutiens (August holidaymakers) searching for sun: the two clogging motorway lanes, filling the airports to bursting point and battling for position at the major railway stations in the annual "crossover".

No, the real point of interest is how the country will manage for a couple of weeks as government ministers go on vacation.

Have no fears, this isn't a list of ALL 39 ministers and their chosen destinations. Instead it's a brief and less-than-serious look at where some of them are planning to spend the next few weeks, remembering all the time that a reported 51 per cent of French cannot afford to go away on holiday this year.

First up (of course) is the one person who isn't strictly speaking a minister; Sarkozy.

After his recent "malaise" - or "nerve attack" as it was first reported by some media outlets - he'll probably find it a little easier than might otherwise have been the case to follow doctors' advice and scale down his activities.

He'll be spending a quiet couple of weeks with his wife, Carla, at his parents-in-law's little pad in Cap Nègre in the south of France.

Not among his list of visitors presumably will be Jacques Laisné, the former prefect of the department of Var, where the Bruni-Tedeschi house is located.

Laisné lost his job a couple of months ago in the "septic tank" affair, in which he reportedly reneged on a promise to Sarkozy sort out a dispute over whether to replace the existing system of septic tanks with mains drainage and sewage system.

You can read more about that here.

Perhaps the minister who faces the toughest job come September when there'll be La Rentrée (the time when everyone gets back to work and schools reopen after the summer break) is the health minister, Roselyne Bachelot.

Without specifying exactly where she'll be passing her time, Bachelot has promised to remain "a maximum of one hour" from her ministry, ready to tackle any threat there might be from the expected H1N1 outbreak.

Another couple of government members for whom you could well spare a thought perhaps are the minister of finance, Christine Lagarde, and the minister of employment, Xavier Darcos.

They'll both be reportedly taking along work with them.

Ah such is the life for those in office.

And then there's the minister of industry, Christian Estrosi, who has recently faced a number of ongoing disputes, most notably the threat of of workers at the bankrupt New Fabris car factory in Chatellerault, southwest of Paris, to blow up the factory.

He says he'll only be taking long weekends because anything else would "be unreasonable".

Some though can apparently afford time for a proper holiday, and a couple of them could even bump into each other.

Both Eric Woerth, minister of budget, and the newly-appointed junior minister of housing, Benoist Apparu, will both be spending their time in the same place; Corsica in the Mediterranean.

And if they're very lucky they could enjoy a tête-à-tête-à-tete with the general secretary of their party ( Union pour un Mouvement Populaire, Union for a Popular Movement,UMP), Xavier Bertrand, who is also scheduled to be staying on “L'île de Beauté” or the island of beauty.

Sarkozy, along with many of his ministers look set to be following the French habit of tending not to travel abroad (90 per cent of them holiday in France). But there is an exception.

The prime minister, François Fillon, will once again travel south to Tuscany in Italy.

Oh well, there's always one, isn't there?

Sarkozy's European dilemma

The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, is in a bit of a quandary at the moment as to what to do with the employment minister, Brice Hortefeux.

The problem arises from the ruling Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) party's "success" in Sunday's European parliamentary elections here in France.

Against all expectations, Hortefeux has found himself elected to serve for the next five years in Brussels and Strasbourg.

According to the "rules" set by the UMP itself, any minister successfully standing for election to the European parliament is expected to step down from government.

Such will be the case with the agriculture minister, Michel Barnier, and the justice minister, Rachida Dati, who were respectively number one and two on the party's list in the Ile de France constituency (including Paris and the surrounding region).

But for Hortefeux apparently, an exception to the rule could well be made.

Sarkozy's "dilemma" began after the results came in on Sunday for the Massif Central-Centre constituency where Hortefeux had been third on the UMP list.

The party actually won a big enough percentage of the constituency vote (28.4 per cent) to send three, rather than the expected two, candidates to the European parliament.

Whoops.

In steps the UMP leader, Xavier Bertrand, who, when questioned, said that Hortefeux was "needed" in government and implied that he shouldn't be required to quit.

But hang about a moment. You might be wondering what Hortefeux's name was doing on the list in the first place if neither he nor anyone else ever intended to him to have to honour his obligation (to leave the government and take up his seat in the European parliament), no matter how slim his chances of being elected might have been.

Ah well, Bertrand, came up with a rather convenient explanation for that on national radio on Monday morning.

"We knew that Michel Barnier and Rachida Dati would be leaving because we placed them top of the list," he said.

"In Brice Hortefeux's case, his participation in the campaign was not to get elected but to lend his political support to the list," he added.

All right then, so Hortefeux wasn't standing to be elected.

Now some might see that as a rather peculiar and contemptuous comment perhaps on how the French government really perceives the role of the European parliament in spite of Sarkozy's determination that the EU's institutions should be reformed and bolstered.

But there is of course a domestic political agenda at play in all of this.

Sarkozy and Hortefeux go back a long way.

A long-time friend and close ally of the French president, Hortefeux took over the newly created ministry of immigration in June 2007.

At the beginning of this year, when Bertrand stepped down from the government to take over the leadership of the party, Hortefeux replaced him as employment minister.

But most importantly perhaps is that he is one of those being tipped to be Sarkozy's next prime minister (when the president manages to give the current incumbent François Fillon the shove) and his credentials for the job would certainly be better served being based in Paris rather than Brussels and Strasbourg.

According to the national daily, Le Monde, Sarkozy has given himself a week or two to "reflect" on what to do before making an official statement, but already the signs are that Hortefeux will stay exactly where he is.

Isn't politics a wonderful thing.

Sarkozy plays musical chairs with a handful of ministers

Fancy a bit of French politics for a Saturday read? Then here goes.

Don't worry it's not tremendously weighty (heaven forbid) and won't be too long - promise.

The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has tinkered a little with his government this week as expected, "splitting" difficult couples, springing one slight surprise in the process and promoting a "buddy".

Oh yes and he has also continued his policy of opening up the government to reflect better the political landscape.

Or another way of putting it, depending on your political perspective, could be seen as him maintaining his strategy of dividing and conquering the opposition.

What's happened isn't exactly a cabinet reshuffle, but more - in his own words - an "adjustment", as Sarkozy has ever so slightly conducted a game of musical chairs in making the changes.

So who are the not-so-new faces who've switched jobs or moved ministries?

Shuffle the cabinet

Well first up, the way was paved for that "adjustment" by Xavier Bertrand stepping down from the government to take over the leadership of the governing centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) party.

Bertrand is one of Sarkozy's "favourites" and, in many political commentators' eyes, a potential future prime minister should the current one, François Fillon drop out of favour.

To fill the seat that has become vacant at the employment or labour ministry Sarkozy has turned to his "buddy", Brice Hortefeux.

No surprises there as his likely move had been anything less than a well kept secret.

Hortefeux, who had never been particularly keen on his previous job as minister of immigration when it was created in June 2007, is a long-time friend and close political ally of the French president.

His new post will also see him take on extra responsibility as the outspoken Socialist politician, Fadela Amara will be working alongside him.

She'll keep the same portfolio she has had until now of junior minister for urban policy but switches bosses from Christine Boutin, the housing minister with whom she has had a less than comfortable relationship, to Hortefeux.

Amara has been a vital member of the French government and a potent symbol of Sarkozy’s desire to break with the politics of the past, but it hasn’t stopped her from speaking her mind whenever it suits her.

So it should be fun to see how she gets on with Hortefeux, whose legislation for voluntary DNA testing of would-be immigrants she famously described as "dégueulasse" (disgusting) when it was being debated in parliament.

Amara and Boutin, who've rarely seen eye to eye, aren't the only couple to have been split.

It's also the case of Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, who had been a junior minister of ecology under the super ministry (transport, energy and environment) headed by the larger than life Jean-Louis Borloo.

Kosciusko-Morizet (or NKM as she's known in the "meeja") and Borloo didn't get on, so she has been given a new job - perhaps the only real surprise among the appointments - as wait for it, junior minister of prospectives and evaluation of public policies (please don't ask) reporting directly to the prime minister, François Fillon.

That (mouthful of a) job became vacant because Eric Besson is moving to become minister of immigration (Hortefeux's old job - remember?).

It's a rapid promotion for a man who "jumped political ships" so to speak during the 2007 presidential campaign when he was still a member of the Socialist party and an advisor to Ségèlone Royal before resigning from both.

And there basically you have it.

The music has finished and the chosen few called to the floor to circle the chairs have all found their seats.

Perhaps the real surprise in all of this comes in the form of two ministers that have remained very much were they are - against all expectations.

Rachida Dati is still hanging in there as justice minister, and there's no word as to whether she'll head the party's list for the European parliamentary elections in June.

Oh and also let's not forget that other tricky customer, Rama Yade, the junior minister for human rights.

She's also staying put for the moment, somewhat confounding the experts who had predicted her dismissal after a) she refused "orders" to head the list for the very same European parliamentary elections (a request she likened to being forced to marry Prince Albert (of Monaco)".

And b) being rather pointedly slapped down in public last December when her immediate boss, the foreign minister Bernard Kouchner, turned around and said that it had been a mistake to appoint a junior minister responsible for human rights as "foreign policy cannot be conducted only in terms of how human rights functions".

There you go, a promise made is a promise kept.

The End

Bon weekend à tous et à toutes.

French prepare to go to the polls

On Wednesday around 19 million French will have the chance to vote.

Oh not another election in France, you may well be screaming.

Sorry folks, afraid so. Following last year's presidential and parliamentary election here, and then the two rounds of local elections in March this year, the French are being called to the ballot box once again.

Around 19 million of them to be precise.

Hang about. You might be wondering how come so few. After all in a country of around 64 million people, surely there are more registered voters than that.

And you would be right in terms of the other national elections, for which there are in fact just over 44 million registered voters.

Furthermore astute France-watchers (oh come on there has to be at least one out there) will have noticed that tomorrow's election falls on a weekday, rather than on a Sunday as is traditional in this country.

Ah, well here's the short answer.

This time around it's a national election for sure, but of quite a different sort - namely for the country's prud'hommes.

If you've just had to reach for the dictionary - here's a simple explanation which will give you (hopefully ) a much clearer understanding of what they do and why they're important.

They're the people who serve on France's 210 private sector joint industrial tribunals.

There are 14,512 elected prud'hommes serving for five years up and down the country on 210 tribunals, and their job is to resolve industrial - or more accurately perhaps, employment - disputes between employer and employee.

Of the 200,000 or so cases the tribunals hear each year, around 50 per cent concern alleged unfair dismissal and compensation claims, with another 40 per cent involving overtime and bonus disputes.

In around 70 per cent of cases, the tribunal rules in favour of the employee.

Wednesday's vote is open to all private sector employees as well as those from state-run commercial companies such as SNCF (railways) and EDF (electricity).

The government has been criticised in the run-up to the election, in particular by Laurence Parisot, the president of MEDEF (Mouvement des Entreprises de France or Movement of the French Enterprises).

She's on record as having recently called the government's approach and to the organisation of the vote "a shambles".

Trade unions meanwhile, have been campaigning heavily among private sector employees.

For Bernard Thibault, the general secretary of the Confédération générale du travail (General Confederation of Labour, CGT) the largest of France's five main trade unions, Wednesday's vote is also a clear test of government employment policy.

"We want there to be true national consultation and this is a chance to send a clear message to the government as to employees' expectations in this period of (economic) crisis,"he said.

Even though government and trades unions agree that the role of the prud'hommes is a vital one, there has been a marked decrease in participation among those eligible to vote in recent elections. In 1979, turnout was at 63.2 per cent but last time around (2002) only 32.7 per cent voted.

The signs are that Wednesday's vote will be follow a similar pattern with a poll published on Tuesday revealing that 70 per cent of those surveyed saying they would abstain, vote blank or spoil their ballot papers.

"That's the paradox of the prud'hommes," Xavier Bertrand, the minister of employment is reported as saying in the national daily Le Figaro.

"If 90 per cent of those involved in the private sector agree that they (the tribunals) serve a function and are indispensable, only 30 per cent of those eligible actually vote."

A French revolution in labour law as Sarkozy aims to get the country working

This week saw parliamentary approval for a change in France's labour laws and a potential beginning of the end to the country's 35-hour working week.

The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and his ruling centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement UMP) party say the decision will loosen up the country's labour laws and provide a boost to the economy.

Opponents see it as a "step back in time" and a threat to social justice.

At the heart of the reform is the challenge to the France's 35-hour working week.

Many would agree that the original legislation - introduced just over 10 years ago - has had something of a stranglehold on the French labour market ever since.

The original goal of the then Socialist government was to decrease unemployment. But instead the results have been minimal, if not nearly impossible to gauge and, say many economists, cost the country millions of euros.

And while there has been an increase in people taking on second jobs in their free time, critics have claimed that small and medium sized businesses in particular have suffered from the inflexibility of the existing law, and it has made them less competitive.

Employment minister, Xavier Bertrand, one of Sarkozy's closest allies and a possible future prime minister, told national radio that the new law would make the labour market more flexible.

And there's certainly a case to be made for breaking the seeming rigidity of a system where work stops at a given hour regardless of whether a task has been finished - simply because that's the law.

But the new legislation won't actually get rid of the 35-hour-working week altogether, even if that might well be Sarkozy's eventual goal. It'll just allow companies to determine with their employees' consent how long the working week should last (maximum 48 hours) thereby bringing France more into line with its EU partners.

The latest move was probably inevitable as it's all part of Sarkozy's plan to get France back to work.

When asked at a press conference earlier this year whether he wanted to see the end of the 35-hour-working week, Sarkozy took most reporters' breath away by summing up his response in just one word - "yes".

Since then he has backtracked somewhat. In a sense he has had to, simply because his oft-repeated mantra of "work more to earn more" as a means of fulfilling his electoral pledge to increase the purchasing power of the average man and woman on the street, wouldn't function without it.

He still needs the 35-hour working week to be able to allow employers to pay overtime to employees who choose to take it. And he still needs employees to be able to choose between those extra days off they can accumulate or paid overtime. The two go hand in hand.

Sarkozy said as much in a televised inteview a couple of months ago when he admitted that he had not "communicated correctly" the thinking behind his so-called fiscal package. That has since been rectified with a million-euro advertising campaign.

Parliamentary approval is not quite the end of the road for the legislation as far as opponents are concerned.

They say the new law is "dangerous" and claim it increases the likelihood that employees will be forced to work longer hours without being properly paid for them, gives employers an unfair upper hand in allowing them to "dictate the rules" and will lead to an overall reduction in the number of days off.

A group of parliamentarians representing the political Left here in France, along with the Greens intends to challenge the legislation before the country's constitutional court.

For the moment though, Sarkozy finally seems to be delivering on some of the electoral promises he made last year. This latest reform follows hot on the heels of a general overhaul of the French constitution, approved at the beginning of this week.

If he can now be seen to be delivering on the one major area in which he has so far failed - increasing purchasing power - then the economy could well see the kick start it has been waiting for and been promised for over a year now.