Sarkozy promises quick action on reforms

France’s new government was holding its first Cabinet meeting today, taking up a first batch of planned reforms, as President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed to move fast on changes now that a new government is in place.

Sarkozy was to address newly elected lawmakers after the Cabinet meeting, three days after legislative elections that gave him a comfortable majority. He was to appear in a television interview in the evening.

A day after the barely month-old government was reshuffled, Sarkozy was ready for action.

“We’re going to go even faster, further and right now,” the president told the daily Le Parisien.

Sarkozy took office May 16 with a raft of promises to rejuvenate France with a vast program of reforms to make the country more competitive and tackle problems like discrimination.

The new government named yesterday added new ministers from the opposition Socialists and members of the black and Arab minorities.

“There will be two black women on the international scene: Condi (Condoleezza) Rice and Rama Yade,” Sarkozy was quoted by Le Parisien as saying, referring to the US secretary of state and the new minister for human rights, who is of Senegalese origin.

Besides Yade, two other women in the government have roots in Africa: activist Fadela Amara, in charge of urban issues, notably the suburban housing projects, and Justice Minister Rachida Dati.

The Cabinet was reviewing a package of fiscal reforms to stimulate growth and employment, including making overtime pay tax free.

New French Finance minister Christine Lagarde said the government aims to maintain fiscal discipline. “We will strive to respect this,” she told journalists.

The new government spokesman, Laurent Wauquiez, said the idea of raising the sales tax for social security “is not at all stupid” but needs to be thought out. He was following Prime Minister Francois Fillon who yesterday said he did not want to throw out the idea “on the pretext that it was badly explained.”

The issue was raised ahead of last Sunday’s final round of the legislative elections and some members of Sarkozy’s conservative camp blamed it for their less-than-superb performance in the voting.

The opposition Socialists used the fear factor of a tax hike in their campaigning.

The governing right ended up with a comfortable majority that nevertheless fell short of the “tsunami” crushing of the rival Socialists that pollsters had predicted.