Sarkozy's women in government - just - Rama Yade

In what is probably the most blistering attack on a government minister yet, the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has very publicly criticised this country's junior minister for human rights, Rama Yade.

During a speech at the national convention of the ruling centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP), party at the weekend, Sarkozy gave the minister a very public dressing down.

Even though he never mentioned Yade by name, and she wasn't present to hear what he said, the remarks were clearly aimed at her.

Yade had earned the wrath of the president by refusing to stand for June's elections for the European parliament, preferring to concentrate on domestic politics.

And Sarkozy wasn't shy of expressing exactly what he felt about her decision.

"What is this attitude which consists of saying that there are more important things for the future of our continent than the EU?" he asked the convention.

"Do you really believe we can continue politics (in this country) by ignoring Europe and the European parliament?" he continued.

"The way France can best maintain its role in Europe is by sending the 'best' to the European parliament.

"A political family is made up of those who are willing to lead by example, those who want to convince others and are prepared to take risks.

"We need winners not followers."

So how has it reached the point where Yade, for so long a very clear symbol of Sarkozy's policy of opening up the government to reflect better the political and ethnic diversity of the country, is now in danger of being closeted in a ministry with no real power? And how come she was the target of such an attack?

In this, the fourth in an occasional series looking at some of the women in government who are making their mark on politics here in France, it's time for a look at one who was seen as evidence of Sarkozy "delivering" on several levels.

It hasn't always been an easy ride though - either for Sarkozy or Yade.

When he came to office in May 2007 Sarkozy promised gender parity within the 15-strong cabinet.

Although Yade isn't a front-line minister she has certainly been one with a high profile.

One of Sarkozy's electoral pledges was to include the respect for human rights as a vital part of France’s foreign policy and true to his word he created a position in government - a junior minister reporting immediately to the foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner.

In choosing Yade for the job, Sarkozy was perhaps making one of the most potent statements of intent possible.

Her inclusion in the government - along with Rachida Dati as justice minister and Fadela Amara as junior minister for urban policy - was to many proof that Sarkozy meant what he said.

Moreover Yade, born in Senegal and with a Jewish husband who also happened to be a former member of the Socialist party, brought with her all the personal credentials Sarkozy must surely have been looking for.

Yet that promise to make human rights a pivotal point of France's foreign policy soon ran into problems and Yade became for some the victim and for others the tool of Sarkozy's apparent backtracking.

The first very obvious example was during the visit of the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to this country in December 2007.

While Gaddafi was busy signing cheques worth millions of Euros in contracts, Yade spoke out in public and criticised the Libyan leader's human rights record.

She was hauled into Sarkozy's office for a ticking off, but kept her job.

Fast forward to April 2008 and a state visit to Tunisia during which the same pattern of behaviour repeated itself somewhat, although this time Yade was to all intents and purposes "muzzled".

During the visit Sarkozy left international and local human rights groups aghast as he went as far as to congratulate his Tunisian counterpart, Zine al Abidine Ben Ali, for the efforts he had made in "improving" his country’s human rights record.

Yade, who was accompanying him on the trip was prevented at the last minute from meeting representatives of a Tunisian human rights group.

Later that month of course there was an interview in the national daily, Le Monde, when Yade said that Sarkozy had set out specific conditions that needed to be met by the Chinese - after their security clampdown in Tibet - before he would decide whether he would attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic games in Beijing in August.

Yade claimed that she had been misquoted but the paper stuck to its guns and there were general rumblings in some quarters of the media as to why Yade had been allowed to speak out and then do an apparent volte face.

The more kindly interpretation was that it was Sarkozy giving the impression of being concerned about human rights without actually having to make a statement himself.

In a sense, it was suggested, Yade was playing the role of a "spokesperson" saying and retracting without damaging Sarkozy’s image.

The less generous version was that Yade was a loose cannon, who needed to be reigned in constantly.

Last December it was public knowledge that Sarkozy was trying to force Yade to stand in June's elections for the European parliament - a move which would have meant her leaving the government had she been successful in being elected.

Yade refused.

Her immediate boss, Kouchner, then fired his own salvo Yade's way when he said in an interview with one of the country's newspapers 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".

Which brings us full circle to last weekend's comments by Sarkozy, which Caroline Roux, a political commentator on the Canal Plus early morning show La Matinale said had been an unprecedented attack by any French president on a serving minister.

"To the best of my recollection this has never occurred before," said Roux.

And she went on to ask the two questions that many others have also been wondering, namely why Sarkozy hasn't already sacked Yade, or why she hasn't resigned herself.

The answer to both Roux's questions could be provided on Wednesday when the two protagonists are due to have a tête-à-tête after the weekly cabinet meeting.






Other stories on Sarkozy's women in government

Sarkozy's women in government - Christine Lagarde. Who would be a finance minister?

Sarkozy's women in government - MAM, a rough ride for even the toughest

Sarkozy's women in government - Rachida Dati, a star on the wane?

Travel chaos and more predicted during a French day of (in)action

Treat this post as a public service announcement if you like.

Because if you're thinking or planning to come to France on Thursday, maybe you shouldn't.

It won't actually be a holiday here, but you could be forgiven for thinking it will be, as plenty of people will be taking the day off work.

In case you haven't already guessed, it can only mean one thing - that a huge chunk of the French population is about to indulge itself in what could be seen as a national pastime - striking.

But setting all flippancy aside, it promises to be a mightily trying day for those who actually want to make their way into the office.

The strike has the official backing of the opposition Socialist party and many of the country's main trade unions throughout the public and private sectors.

It's a combination of protests over job losses, dissatisfaction with government reforms and privatisation plans amongst others, and if the unions are to be believed will be "a huge success" as many people stop work and take to the streets.

So it's a heads up for anyone thinking about coming here and then trying to get around the country.

Maybe it would be a better idea to stay at home and not even think about travelling to or around France.

If however you do, here's what you have to look forward to.

First up getting in (or out) of France by 'plane shouldn't be too much of a problem if you happen to be scheduled to arrive on an Air France flight, as the company's management isn't expecting too many delays.

That at least is what they're promising at the moment.

Other airlines of course should be operating normally.

But once you arrive the problems will begin.

There will be a restricted service on the railways as almost all unions representing train drivers and SNCF employees are backing the strike.

In Paris you can expect long delays on the metro as once again five of the eight unions representing RATP have called for action, and the situation won't be any easier in most of the large metropolitan areas around the country.

For the French in general it's likely to be a day of protests and headaches.

Primary schools will be closed and once again local authorities will have problems providing the "minimum service" guaranteed by the government. The result will likely be that many parents will be forced to take a day off work to look after their children.

Public television and radio won't be spared either as a 24-hour strike begins at protest against government reforms. Magistrates will also be coming out in protest over judicial reforms,

At La Poste (the post office) similar action is expected against government privatisation plans

Employees in the banking and financial services are also being urged by their unions to strike.

France Telecom will be effected too, as will hospitals. And so the list goes on EDF, GDF,and Suez, - the energy utilities, civil servants, car makers - just about every part of the public and private sector is expected to be touched in one way or another.

Even at the country's stock exchange - or la bourse - there have been calls from one union for action to protest job cuts.

And how do the French feel about all of this?

Well according to a poll published in the daily newspaper Le Parisien, they're overwhelmingly in favour with seven out of every 10 saying they "support" or "have sympathy" with the call for action.

As has been pointed out among the country's media, Thursday could prove to be rather a "baptism of fire" for the new minister of employment, Brice Hortefeux.

Who would have his job?

Bienvenue en France.

Rachida Dati - is she being pushed or is she jumping?

It was widely reported at the end of last week throughout the French media that the justice minister, Rachida Dati, would be resigning from the government.

There's still no word from the minister herself, or an exact date fixed for her departure.

But at the weekend, the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, confirmed that Dati would be on the list of the ruling centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP), party in June's elections for the European parliament.

Her inclusion means that she will have to step down from the government if, as expected, she is elected.

It was perhaps this country's worst-kept political secret (of the week), but is Dati really going of her own free will or did she simply have no choice in the matter.

Let's look at some of the facts as objectively as possible, and then you can judge for yourself.

First up Dati was not the first choice to head the list in Ile de France region (the area around Paris) for those European elections in June.

Sarkozy had been trying to persuade the junior minister for human rights, Rama Yade, to take on that role, but she refused with the now rather famous comment here that the order was rather "like being forced to marry Prince Albert (of Monaco)".

Furthermore Dati won't actually be heading the list, instead she'll be number two to Michel Barnier, the current agriculture minister and himself a former European commissioner.

He too will be stepping down from the government, and the date for his departure has already been fixed for the beginning of May - roughly a month ahead of the June 7 elections.

Just in case you were wondering at this point, that's the rule in French politics.

An individual cannot serve simultaneously in the European parliament and remain a government minister.

Hence there'll be two posts up for grabs when Barnier and Dati leave.

So back to Dati - not number one on the list as might have been expected, but at number two still a shoo-in.

Even though Sarkozy praised her over the weekend at the UMP's national convention, when he announced the double act that would be leading the party's push in the elections, many could interpret his remarks as having something of a hollow ring to them.

After all Dati has in a manner of speaking been "out of favour" with the French president for several months now, to the extent that she was excluded from the so-called "G7" or inner circle of ministers consulted over future government strategy.

Mind you the prime minister, François Fillon, with whom Sarkozy does not have the closest or easiest of relations, has also been outside of that group, so Dati has not been alone.

That was in stark contrast to the protection Sarkozy provided her throughout her first months in the job.

Remember he brought Dati into the government as the first person, let alone woman, of North African descent to hold a top ministerial position.

It was widely seen as a pretty smart choice by Sarkozy as part of his policy of "opening up" the government and French politics to make it better reflect political and ethnic diversity in the country.

Dati had previously held no elected office, although she has since run for, and secured, the post of mayor of the VII arrondissement of Paris in last year's local elections.

Throughout her time in the job as justice minister, she has often been ridiculed in the media and certainly by the opposition Socialist party as being incompetent.

Her management skills have been the source of many a news story as her ministry haemorrhaged staff with more than a dozen members leaving over the course of just 12 months.

Then of course there has been her apparently rather "extravagant" lifestyle. Dati has graced the front cover and inside pages of several weekly magazines, and came in for criticism all round when she admitted in March last year that her department had blown two-thirds of its annual €200,000 entertainment budget in just three months.

Most tellingly though perhaps has been the flak she has received from the judiciary itself - magistrates and lawyers - who have accused her of pushing through reforms to the system with insufficient consultation.

There had been rumours circulating for several months that Sarkozy would try to move Dati to another ministry and away from the firing line.

By moving her to a European level while promising her a return to the national scene at some undisclosed future date, Sarkozy has also been able to present it as proof that his party was leading the way in promoting political "diversity" in a way that no other French party had done.

"The decision to put Michel and Rachida at the top of the list of the biggest region (in terms of population) in France is historic," he told the UMP convention on Saturday.

"No other party in France had dared to do this so far."

Finally perhaps, if you've been following French politics recently, you were expecting some comment on Dati having recently given birth and returning to work after five days, and you're maybe wondering whether that had some role to play in her quitting the government.

The general consensus in France - given the coverage that aspect has received within the media in its reporting of Dati leaving government, would probably have to be "no".

The 43-year-old single mother certainly came under fire from some groups for returning to work so quickly after giving birth to her first child at the beginning of this month, but there has been no suggestion that it was a factor in her decision to run for the European elections.

Or put another way her agreement to follow Sarkozy's instructions.

So is she being pushed or is she jumping?

You decide.