Office of new French president Sarkozy set to appoint Cabinet

France's new conservative president, Nicolas Sarkozy, was expected to name his Cabinet on Friday.

Photo: Office of new French president Sarkozy set to appoint Cabinet

Sarkozy has promised novelty in his streamlined, 15-member ministerial team - and was not likely to disappoint: Seven appointees would be women, and at least two would be from different political camps, news reports said.

A day earlier, Sarkozy appointed cool-headed confidant Francois Fillon as his prime minister, and the two rang in the appointment with an hour-long jog in a Paris park.

Perhaps the biggest surprise in the new lineup was Bernard Kouchner, a co-founder of the Nobel Prize-winning Doctors Without Borders medical charity - and a popular leftist - who could become foreign minister.

But several Chirac-era veterans met with the new premier Thursday, including Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, Labor Minister Jean-Louis Borloo and former Health Minister Xavier Bertrand.

Former Prime Minister Alain Juppe appeared poised for a remarkable political comeback, billed to lead a newly created Ministry for Sustainable Development to handle environmental issues that Sarkozy says is a priority.

Juppe was convicted in a party financing scandal in 2005 and was barred from holding political office for a year. Sarkozy has said fighting global warming would be one of his priorities.

The popular Borloo would be charged with making good on Sarkozy's bold economic reforms in a ministry devoted to economic strategy, companies and jobs. Alliot-Marie was expected to be in charge of counterterrorism efforts, leading the interior ministry that Sarkozy headed four of the last five years.