Chirac stresses need for reform despite poll setback

French President Jacques Chirac vowed to press on with unpopular reforms that led to a stinging electoral defeat for his fellow conservatives, but moderated his tone and said that he had heard the message from disgruntled voters.

Mr Chirac last night laid out his priorities – focusing on jobs and economic growth – in a TV interview a day after announcing a broad shake-up of the government of Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin.

The reshuffling of ministries, which began yesterday, came four days after voters delivered conservatives a stunning defeat in regional elections – seen as a rebuke of Mr Raffarin’s reform plans.

“I have attentively listened and I heard the message,” Mr Chirac said in the interview, broadcast simultaneously on France’s top two TV networks.

In regional elections on Sunday, the Socialist-led opposition gained victories across France. The right ended up with only one region in mainland France, Alsace. The left took 20.

Mr Raffarin kept his job, to the surprise of many. His new team will continue overseeing a raft of budget cuts and reforms – many designed to save France’s generous social services from collapse.

Mr Chirac’s appearance was part pep talk, part appeal to the French to accept the need for reforms, and part acknowledgement of errors by the previous Raffarin government.

On the economy, Mr Chirac said there has been an “insufficient rebound” out of sluggish growth rates. “We have to accompany it. We have to mobilise it, to give a prod to growth.”

He reiterated his support for tax cuts, insisted that spiralling health care costs must be reined in and called on the French to understand that France “needs to adapt” to economic realities.

On cuts that the government enacted last year on some unemployment benefits, Mr Chirac said there was probably a “correction” to be done.

And in an overture to state-funded researchers – among many groups to hold street protests in recent months over cutbacks – he urged the government to “re-examine” a recent decision to trim 550 full-time research posts.

Ministers in the reshuffled Cabinet started their new jobs yesterday. Leftist opponents said the changes were a game of musical chairs, with the top posts merely redistributed among the old team.

Among the changes at the highest ranks, Nicolas Sarkozy, the former interior minister who won fans with an anti-crime crackdown, became head of the Finance Ministry.

Outgoing foreign minister Dominique de Villepin – known for impassioned criticism of US plans to attack Iraq – turned over his job to Michel Barnier, European Commissioner for Regional Policy.

Mr Barnier wants to rebuild frayed ties with the US, but he wants to make sure Europe is not dominated in the process.

Mr de Villepin takes up Mr Sarkozy’s old job at the Interior Ministry.