French media bet on Fabius as finance minister

March 27, 2000
Web posted at: 8:43 a.m. EST (1343 GMT)

PARIS (Reuters) -- French media on Monday put their money on moderate Socialist Laurent Fabius as the next finance minister in a reshuffle Prime Minister Lionel Jospin was expected to announce later in the day or on Tuesday.

A former prime minister, Fabius, 53, ranks as one of the most centrist figures in the governing Socialist party. He has in recent months pushed Jospin to make bolder tax cuts.

"Fabius tops the hit parade," the left-leaning daily Liberation wrote. As the business daily Les Echos put it: "Fabius at the centre of speculation."

Fabius, prime minister in 1984-1986 and National Assembly speaker since 1997, would be the seasoned politician who has been needed at the finance ministry since Dominique Strauss-Kahn quit last November over a business scandal.

The current finance minister, technocrat Christian Sautter, rapidly lost influence after he had to cave in to striking tax collectors and withdraw his plan to streamline the tax service.

An opinion poll published on Monday showed a majority of French voters supported Jospin's stalled efforts to modernise the vast civil service and education bureaucracies. The prime minister slowed down reforms after heavy union opposition.

The poll, published in Liberation, said 75 percent backed a pension reform proposed by Jospin that would require civil servants to work 40 years before retirement rather than the current 37.5-year minimum.

A full 63 percent felt Jospin, who lately seemed to lose his touch after 2-1/2 years of smooth governing, was able to pull off the politically touchy task of reforming the "pay-as-you-go" pension system to accommodate the arrival of the baby boomers.

Sixty percent also considered the prime minister capable of reforming the five-million strong civil service.

Jospin confirmed on Saturday he planned to reshuffle his government but has not said when he would do this.

Media reports expected the announcement to come later on Monday or on Tuesday, so the prime minister can present his new team to conservative President Jacques Chirac at the weekly cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

Among others expected to leave their posts were Education Minister Claude Allegre and Culture Minister Catherine Trautmann.

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