Newly-elected French President Nicolas Sarkozy has made something of a splash with his new cabinet. Half of the government’s 15 ministers will be women. Bernard Kouchner, the socialist founder of Doctors Without Borders, will serve as the conservative government’s foreign minister. Justice Minister Rachida Dati is France’s first senior cabinet official with an ethnic minority background.

It should be noted that although Kouchner is a socialist, he was one of handful of French leaders to support the invasion of Iraq, although he did so on humanitarian grounds.



New French Justice Minister Rachida Dati answers reporters after the handover ceremony with outgoing Justice Minister Pascal Clement, unseen, at the Justice ministry in Paris, Friday, May 18, 2007. New French President Nicolas Sarkozy named his Cabinet on Friday, poaching from rival political factions and handing women a prominent role in a smaller government team tasked with reforming France and pulling it out of the economic doldrums. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon)



Qui est Rachida Dati ?

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BBC:

Of the female candidates, France will have its first ethnic minority figure in a senior cabinet post, with Rachida Dati as justice minister. She was Mr Sarkozy’s campaign spokeswoman and has strongly backed his ideas on affirmative action to counter racial discrimination in the jobs market.

Former Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie goes to the interior ministry. She was a loyal follower of Mr Chirac and was the first woman to lead the ruling UMP’s right-wing predecessor, the Gaullist RPR party.

Former Trade Minister Christine Lagarde is going to agriculture - a key job, with world trade discussions going on and EU farming subsidies up for debate again soon.

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Lately, whenever I’ve seen an ethnic minority within a political post of some authority, they’ve always seemed to try and be ‘whiter than white’, sarkozy for example called the mostly ethnic rioters scum, old Michael howerd, son of immigrants, tightened up immigration controls…instead of showing sympathy and even empathy for other second/third/fourth generation immigrants, they are often harder than their white peers… if the French/European ethnic minorities are hoping for a representative(s) in the heart of government, history has shown that they are almost always disappointed.