Cabinet Making French Style

  

 

1st June 2007

The Malta Independent - Friday Wisdom

We all hope that newly elected French President Nicholas Sarkozy took back with him happy memories of the short break he had among us in the interval between his election victory and his official appointment.

It would help our tourism branding efforts to no end if he did, in the same way that AC Milan’s win of the UEFA Champions League and their frequent references to their season’s change of fortunes following their Malta training camp over the Christmas recess, is still helping to raise our image as a destination worth visiting. May be it is a coincidence, but I was impressed last weekend with the evident prevalence of up-market Italian visitors in the St Julian’s area.

I have a bigger hope, probably pious, that we could learn something else out of the Sarkozy visit. Something we can implement to our great advantage. It was proclaimed that President Sarkozy needed a short relaxing break (in Malta) during which he needed to take important decisions regarding the formation of his cabinet.

Soon after nominating Francois Fillon, a former social affairs minister, as his Prime Minister, President Sarkozy nominated his cabinet of ministers. The cabinet nomination was a cultural revolution, a shock to the traditionally narrow French way of doing politics. It sent a strong message that Sarkozy is different and that he means to deliver with efficiency while economising on resources.

The size of the cabinet was cut from 30 to 15. By crude simplification every minister in the new cabinet will have to work and carry responsibility twice as much as a minister in the former cabinet.

The composition of the cabinet was equally revolutionary. The centre right president announced a slim dream-team, breaking down barriers of gender, ethnicity and party politics. He nominated Bernard Kouchner, a socialist human rights campaigner best known for founding the aid organisation “Medicines Sans Frontiers” (Doctors without Frontiers), as foreign minister. Kouchner’s acceptance of the post raised the ire of the French Socialist Party who threatened to expel him. Three other leftists were named as junior ministers.

As Defence Minister Sarkozy named Herve Morin, a prominent member from the centrist camp of president-contender Francois Bayrou. Morin’s acceptance also weakened Bayrou’s party for the forthcoming parliamentary election.

The new French Cabinet has an unprecedented number of women including France’s first powerful woman of North African descent, notably Rachida Dati, 41, as Justice Minister.

The French-born Dati grew up in a low-income housing project, one of 12 children of an Algerian father and a Moroccan mother. Dati worked as a magistrate, advised Sarkozy when he was interior minister and served as his campaign spokeswoman. She becomes the first leader of North African descent to run a key ministry in a society whose large population of immigrants, mostly Muslims, has been largely excluded from the halls of power.

Somehow however the Malta air which refreshes the minds and strengthens the muscles of visiting foreign dignitaries seems totally ineffective on the local political class. Could it be that our air only imparts its benefits if taken in small doses?

In the Sunday morning sermons at their respective political parties, it would be refreshing if the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader, rather than criticize each other in the most partisan of manners, will one day illuminate us whether they intend to take a leaf out of Sarkozy’s book.

Cutting the cabinet by half would reduce our cabinet from 18 to nine and if France can work with 15 ministers probably we can go further and reduce our cabinet to not more than seven ministers. It would send a highly visible message that the government means to get full mileage out of the taxpayers’ money.

They could also bring some fresh air into Maltese politics by promising to make their cabinet choices on the basis of merit and not pure party affiliation. They can pledge to offer members from other parties to join the cabinet if they are considered as best suited for the job.

And may be they can make a more practical symbolic gesture and keep our weekends politics free. Instead of their weekly monologue they can experiment with mid-week media interviews with phone-ins for public participation. To begin with we deserve to have next Sunday politics free so that as one nation we can be proud of the canonisation of the first Maltese Saint.

Come back Monsieur Sarkozy.