Sarkozy talks to unions in rapprochement with Left

THERE were fears France would descend into strike-ridden chaos if Nicolas Sarkozy was elected president, but yesterday the right-wing hard man appeared to be reaching out to the defeated Left, holding unprecedented talks with union leaders and apparently preparing to name two senior Socialists in his cabinet.

Aides said the new French president was likely to appoint Socialist Bernard Kouchner - a renowned humanitarian who founded the medical charity Mdecins Sans Frontires (MSF) and served as the United Nation's representative in Kosovo - as foreign minister.

And another leading Socialist, Hubert Vdrine, a former foreign minister in the Jospin government from 1997-2002 and close adviser to president Franois Mitterrand, has also reportedly been approached by Mr Sarkozy to join his government, possibly as justice minister.

The move comes after declarations by Mr Sarkozy that he intended to call on figures from the Left and the centre to form an inclusive government which will also boast an equal number of men and women in ministerial posts - a first in France's traditionally macho political landscape.

Mr Sarkozy was said to have invited Mr Kouchner for talks yesterday afternoon concerning the future minister's range of responsibilities.

The 67-year-old Socialist had been approached by Mr Sarkozy over the past few days and "is ready to enter the government", aides to the president-elect said.

Mr Kouchner founded MSF in 1971 after working in war-torn Biafra. Following a rift with other founding members, he set up a second organisation, Doctors of the World, in 1980.

He is also famous for developing the theory of "humanitarian intervention" to justify international action against dictators who flout human rights.

In the run-up to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, he was strongly critical of French policy which he said had encouraged the US and Britain to go to war without UN backing.

Mr Sarkozy is due to take over from Jacques Chirac, 74, tomorrow and is expected to announce the composition of his government on Friday.

He is expected to appoint former social affairs minister Franois Fillon, a moderate, as prime minister. Mr Fillon spearheaded pension reform and is seen as a bridge with the unions, who are deeply suspicious of Mr Sarkozy's tough talk about putting France back to work and are bristling at plans to ensure minimum services during strikes.

Yesterday's meeting with the leaders of five major unions, as well as with representatives of the main employer's organisations, appeared to have gone well.

Presidential trouble and strife

SPECULATION about renewed marital discord between Nicolas Sarkozy and his fiercely independent wife, Cecilia, was rife yesterday amid reports that the 49-year-old former model did not vote in the election that saw her husband win the French presidency.

To make matters worse, Rue89.com, a new left-leaning website, said a planned article in the Sunday newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche, revealing that Mrs Sarkozy had not voted, had been "censored" by the managing editor and by the paper's owner, Arnaud Largardre, a friend of the incoming president.

Jacques Esprandieu, the managing editor, said he had personally taken the decision not to publish the article after receiving "a certain number of phone calls stressing the very private and very personal nature of the information".

Mr Sarkozy's spokesman, Franck Louvrier, denied that members of the president-elect's entourage had applied pressure to stop the article being published.