France's new economy minister, Jean-Louis Borloo, took over the helm of the euro zone's second biggest economy on Friday with his mind firmly focused on slashing unemployment rather than trimming debt.
President Nicolas Sarkozy has rejigged the Finance Ministry and reduced the number of ministerial posts, leaving Borloo, a former labour minister, with a remit that includes economic strategy, finance, industry, trade, and tourism.
His superministry - which he compares with Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry - can leave balancing the books to a separate national accounts ministry that will deal with the budget, all public spending, and public sector workers.
"My only mission is to cut unemployment to 5 percent by the end of Nicolas Sarkozy's five-year mandate, as he has pledged," Borloo told the Le Monde newspaper.
The political upheaval involved in merging ministries and hiving off the Finance Ministry's budget remit means that full details of who will be responsible for the finer points of policymaking is not yet clear. Still, Borloo, dubbed the 'social conscience' of the previous government, is expected to represent France at international financial gatherings, such as meetings of the Group of Seven nations, according to one his aides.
While Borloo has a passing resemblance to France's last finance minister, Thierry Breton, and a similar mop of curly hair, he is likely to take a different tack from the former businessman who made cutting debt one of his main priorities.
JOBS, JOBS, JOBS Blunt and forthright, Borloo has made it clear in the past that he is no fan of a strong euro or an unquestioning believer in the European Central Bank's inflation-fighting mandate. But nor does he think that the euro and the ECB should be blamed for problems with France's economy.
Sobczak said international finance was unlikely to be Borloo's strong suit but that this would not necessarily matter to a man charged with delivering on Sarkozy's pledge to reform the labour market. Other financial analysts agreed. "I think the key word in his long title is employment," said Gilles Moec, senior economist at Bank of America in London.
Borloo was in charge of the Labour Ministry during a period in which the unemployment rate has fallen by more than one percentage point from 10 percent in 2005.
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