Sarkozy to justify reshuffle on TV
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French President Nicolas Sarkozy is scheduled to come on the country's main TV channels on Tuesday after the disclosure of new ministers'list in a move to explain his choices and to garner approval ratings.
According to L'Elysee, the president's office, the 55-year-old head of state will address the 65 million populations Tuesday night on TF1, France 2 and Canal+ after he picked a restricted cabinet to outline the main issues of his agenda over the last 18 months of his mandate.
The government reshuffle has sparked a fresh deluge of criticism of left-wing and centrists who failed to secure places in the new ministerial composition. Critics denounced a lack of openness with the maintaining of Premier Francois Fillion and the choice of faces mainly from the right.
"The new government witnesses a strong touch of UMP party which means the end of the openness on the left, on the social party and the return to the Sarkozyism policy in order to prepare for the upcoming presidential elections,"Gael Sliman, head of BVA Opinion Institute told Xinhua.
Sarkozy kept faith with the Fillon who enjoys a high popularity and widely seen as the best man to offer to the majority the traditional values of respectability and competence crucial to gain the electorate confidence.
"It's a closed government which does not reflect what was said by the French. So we expect nothing. He (Sarkozy) had to change men and politics. However, Francois Fillon is renewed. He did nothing special ...,"Segolene Royal, Socialist Party's main member told Europe 1 radio.
However, the majority painted a rosy picture in which they represent the reshuffle as a new phase of the country's political system.
To Francois Baroin who maintained his post as budget minister, the choice of the new is fair and based on concrete reasons.
"There are people in this government that won elections, which have proved their efficaciousness and served the state," Baroin told Europe 1.
"A government which reflects the sensitivity and the founding pact of the UMP and the political landscape will determine the remaining 18 months before the presidential election,"he added.
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