A pro-American Socialist to become Sarkozy’s foreign minister ?
By Joseph Byron
Updated: 14/May/2007
PARIS (EJP)---President-elect Nicolas Sarkozy, who will officially enter the Elysée Palace in Paris on Wednesday, may choose a Socialist as foreign minister in the new government.
Bernard Kouchner, a former Socialist minister, founder of the “Doctors Without Borders” association and a former UN special representative in Kosovo, was said on Monday to be the “best” choice of Sarkozy for the Quai d’Orsay, the French foreign ministry.
The rightist new President, who won the presidential election against his Socialist rival Ségolène Royal, has approached several figures from the left as part of his scheme to forge a slimmed-down 15-member government that will be politically inclusive and not limited to his Union for a Popular Movement or UMP party.
On Sunday reports surfaced that Sarkozy was considering offering the foreign ministry to Hubert Védrine, a former Socialist foreign minister under the premiership of Lionel Jospin, raising concern among French Jews and in Israeli diplomatic circles, as he is known for his anti-Israeli and anti-American views.
But according to the latest unconfirmed reports on Monday, Sarkozy has proposed the post of foreign minister to Kouchner who is said to be “ready to enter the upcoming government,” according to the leftist daily Libération.
Kouchner, who is born to a Jewish father and a Protestant mother, is close to rightist Jewish MP Pierre Lellouche, Sarkozy's advisor on international issues.
Atlanticist
The 67-year-old former Socialist health minister, who is married to [Jewish] tv journalist Christine Ockrent, is one of the rare French politicians who pronounced himself in favour of the US intervention in Iraq and is considered as an Atlanticist.
During the recent presidential electoral campaign Kouchner called on the Socialist party to move toward the center and criticized the French left for not adapting itself to the changing world.
In another development, Arno Klarsfeld, son of Nazi-hunters Serge and Beate Klarsfeld, has been rumored to be the top candidate to become minister of immigration and national identity in the new cabinet which is likely to be headed by François Fillon, 53, a close advisor to Sarkozy and former government social affairs minister.
Born in France, Klarsfeld, a 41-year-old lawyer, undertook in the last two years several missions on behalf of Sarkozy when he was Interior Minister.
He drew up a report on the expulsion of illegal immigrants and helped negotiate a deal to end protests by homeless campaigners.
Klarsfeld acquired Israeli citizenship in 2002 and made his military service in the Israeli border police.
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