Rachida Dati at justice — the first Arab woman to hold a Cabinet post — is one of two ministers stepping down to take up seats in Brussels and Strasbourg, along with Michel Barnier at agriculture, providing the cue for the reshuffle.
Official statistics this week brought Sarkozy’s government a ray of hope, predicting the recession gripping the French economy, the worst for 60 years, might ease at the end of the year.
But until then his economic team faces a tough year-end, with tens of thousands of French workers set to swell the ranks of the unemployed as dozens of industrial layoff plans linked to the crisis kick in.
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