Sarkozy names slimline, cross-party government

By Crispian Balmer

PARIS (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy unveiled a streamlined cabinet on Friday and broke new ground by naming a popular leftist as foreign minister, reshaping the finance ministry and handing women almost half the posts.

Maintaining an election promise, Sarkozy cut the cabinet in half, appointing a 15-strong team that spanned party divides and mixed seasoned politicians with relative newcomers.

Sarkozy and Prime Minister Francois Fillon, who was appointed on Thursday, held their first cabinet meeting within hours of the nominations, sending a clear signal that they want to get to work immediately on their reform program.

"I am of course proud of this government," Sarkozy told reporters. "It is an open, efficient government."

Alain Juppe, a former prime minister, became the government number two at the head of a new super-ministry combining the environment, sustainable development, transport and energy.

Jean-Louis Borloo, the previous labor minister and a moderate centrist, becomes France's economy chief in charge of economic strategy, employment, industry, trade and tourism.

"My only mission is to cut unemployment to 5 percent by the end of Nicolas Sarkozy's five-year mandate, as he has pledged," Borloo told the Le Monde daily. France's unemployment is running at more than eight percent -- the highest in the euro zone.

Borloo will work alongside Eric Woerth, former treasurer of Sarkozy's ruling UMP party, who will be responsible for the state budget and all aspects of public spending.

Breaking with tradition, Sarkozy reached out to the opposition camp and appointed three leftists, including former Socialist health minister and human rights activist Bernard Kouchner as foreign minister.

The Socialists said Sarkozy wanted to destabilize them in the wake of their presidential election defeat, and indicated that Kouchner, the co-founder of the Nobel prize-winning charity Doctors without Borders, would be expelled from the party.

WOMEN

Many of the important social reforms promised by Sarkozy, including curbing union powers and creating a simplified, single labor contract, will fall to his former campaign spokesman, Xavier Bertrand, in his new role as labor minister.

Rewarding centrist allies, Sarkozy appointed Herve Morin as defense minister. He will replace Michele Alliot-Marie, a UMP heavyweight who switches to the interior ministry and is the most senior of seven women in the cabinet.

The new cabinet marks a radical shake-up of power, with ministries like health and sport merging, some like the civil service ministry disappearing, and new entities emerging like the ministry for immigration and national identity.

One of the first tasks of the new government will be to campaign for legislative elections on June 10 and 17, which the president must win to enact his reform program. Opinion polls have suggested he will secure a strong majority.