This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/03/world/europe/hollande-approves-new-french-cabinet.html

The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 1 Version 2
French Leader Approves a New Cabinet French Leader Approves a New Cabinet
(about 7 hours later)
PARIS — President François Hollande of France approved a new cabinet on Wednesday, putting some high-profile figures in key positions, including Ségolène Royal, his former partner, who became the environment and energy minister, but making other appointments that were unlikely to do much to reassure the European Union about the country’s lagging economy. PARIS — President François Hollande of France approved a new cabinet on Wednesday, putting some high-profile figures — including Ségolène Royal, his former partner — in key positions, but sending mixed messages about his plans for France’s troubled economy.
Ms. Royal, the Socialist Party’s presidential candidate in 2007 who lost to Nicolas Sarkozy, has been largely absent from national politics in recent years. She served in previous Socialist cabinets and has remained a vocal member of the party, saying on Sunday when the Socialists suffered embarrassing defeats in local elections that the results were a “severe warning.” The lack of clarity has worried European Union policy makers, who have watched France’s faltering economy with trepidation, in part because Mr. Hollande has resisted deeper structural changes.
In the aftermath of those losses, Mr. Hollande dismissed Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault and replaced him with the interior minister, Manuel Valls. With his ministerial appointments, Mr. Hollande appeared to be trying to satisfy more leftist factions within his Socialist Party as well as the European Commission, which has called for spending cuts and reform of the rigid labor market, but he seemed no closer to a coherent economic policy. Mr. Hollande campaigned on a promise to move the focus of European policy makers away from austerity and toward growth, but when he came to office he largely set those ambitions aside.
Elevated to the post of economy minister was Arnaud Montebourg, whose economic ideas have enjoyed populist appeal. He is known for jousting — with mixed results — with foreign investors and companies he viewed as daring to criticize the French labor system. In remarks on Monday, one day after his party suffered widespread losses in local elections across France, he remained vague, but seemed to lean again toward a pro-growth approach. He made more promises to cut taxes, saying he would reduce the burden not only on corporations, but also on low-paid workers. And he underscored anew his intent to preserve France’s generous social payments.
Mr. Montebourg will share economic responsibilities with the more sober Michel Sapin, a longtime friend of Mr. Hollande, who will become the finance minister. Mr. Sapin, as labor minister, had been in charge of the government’s halting efforts to stem France’s increasing unemployment. “It’s not about making savings just for the sake of making savings,” Mr. Hollande said in his televised address. “It’s about preserving our social model. In short, about being more fair and more effective.”
It is unclear how the government plans to divide tasks between Mr. Sapin and Mr. Montebourg. Economic analysts as well as officials in Brussels and Berlin are not big fans of Mr. Montebourg’s denunciations of austerity policies. France’s growth has hovered at close to zero for the past two years, and unemployment stands at 10.4 percent, just below the European Union average, according to Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical arm.
European Union officials viewed Mr. Hollande’s remarks warily, seeing in them a suggestion that France would seek a further delay in its commitment to bring its budget deficit under the 3 percent of gross domestic product required under European rules.
“France is aware of its commitments,” Jeroen Dijsselbloem, chairman of the Eurogroup of finance ministers, said at a meeting on Tuesday in Athens in response to Mr. Hollande’s speech. “They were already given more time, and more work needs to be done.”
France has not made an official request for a delay in meeting its deficit targets. It was supposed to meet them by the end of 2013, but after negotiations it was given until the end of 2015. However, in 2013, the national deficit overshot the government target, ending at 4.3 percent of gross domestic product instead of 4.1.
The government reorganization began on Monday with the appointment of Interior Minister Manuel Valls as prime minister, succeeding Jean-Marc Ayrault. On Wednesday, Ms. Royal was named environment and energy minister, and Arnaud Montebourg minister of the economy.
Mr. Montebourg, whose economic ideas have enjoyed populist appeal, is known for jousting — with mixed results — with foreign investors and companies he viewed as daring to criticize the French labor system.
His appointment worries analysts because he has taken strong stands against the deficit reduction targets, said Guntram Wolff, the director of Bruegel, a European think tank.
“You get again mixed messages with very different people in the cabinet,” said Mr. Wolff. “With Montebourg, it’s a very left approach and for sure he’s already announced he wants to delay the deficit reduction, which you can debate. But you can’t not debate the need to make reforms on the labor side and the structural side. And we don’t see that coming.”
Mr. Montebourg will share economic responsibilities with the more sober Michel Sapin, a longtime friend of Mr. Hollande’s, who will become the finance minister. Mr. Sapin, as labor minister, had been in charge of the government’s halting efforts to stem France’s increasing unemployment. It is unclear how the government plans to divide tasks between Mr. Sapin and Mr. Montebourg.
Ms. Royal, who lost to Nicolas Sarkozy as the Socialist Party’s presidential candidate in 2007, has been largely absent from national politics in recent years. She served in previous Socialist cabinets and has remained a vocal member of the party, saying on Sunday that the election results were a “severe warning.”
Several ministers maintained important portfolios, including the defense minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian; the foreign minister, Laurent Fabius; and the justice minister, Christiane Taubira, who is something of a lightning rod, reviled by the right and beloved by the left for her championing of same-sex marriage.Several ministers maintained important portfolios, including the defense minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian; the foreign minister, Laurent Fabius; and the justice minister, Christiane Taubira, who is something of a lightning rod, reviled by the right and beloved by the left for her championing of same-sex marriage.