A way to take the heat out debates as ecology read below

Return to ordinary life at Matignon. Just three days after the formation of the Government, Jean-Paul Faugère, Director of the Office of the Prime Minister, chaired yesterday afternoon his first meeting with "dir'cab. A routine for some, appointed but the "JO", as Jean Castex in Xavier Bertrand (work) yet. There were even Stéphane Richard, Director-General Deputy of Veolia Environnement, but not yet released by his company given in Jean-Louis Borloo to the economy and employment...

After a weekend spent by the 15 Ministers to constitute their cabinet, perform field visits and occupy the media space, the core was put in motion the machinery of Government. And so much worse if the casts of the new ministries are not dry, the proximity of the elections as the pace by the head of State, Nicolas Sarkozy moving again today in hospitals in Dunkirk and Zuydcoote necessary to go quickly.

The issues of perimeter

The first decrees of allocation, these texts to bitterly negotiated Council define the scope If they pose no problems for some departments, whose borders are fairly conventional (Culture, Education, higher education...), these orders are far more complex when branches or fields of actions are likely to be placed under the tutelage of several Ministers. This is the case for example of tourism, Alain Juppé (ecology and sustainable development) and Jean-Louis Borloo.

Once these resolved questions of perimeters, Ministers will be assigned their roadmap, very formally since they will receive a "letter of mission". The. These letters, which were intended to be made public, should be ready for the end of the week or the beginning of the next. Written in the Elysee Palace, they must be, these days, frequent trips with Matignon. They should assign to each of the specific enough, sometimes accompanied by a timetable, as on minimum service in transportation, Xavier Bertrand will implement at school, in the absence of agreement with the social partners.

The ordinary work of the Government has also resumed, very quickly, in the budgetary field, because it is not to delay in the preparation of the draft finance law for 2008. To this end, Bercy, which has already led to a technical level, "conferences budget", plans to skip the step of the "framing letter" which sets the standard for evolution of expenditure and recruitment of officials. Come directly "caps letters", which determine the credits allocated to each mission budget.

Prepare for the tough reforms

Minister of public accounts, Eric Woerth has already received the directors of administration, both on the side of State social security. But, in charge of the reform of the State and the public service, especially at heart to view other appointments, those there, this week, with associations of public servants (see page 4).

The image of a Nicolas Sarkozy the first gesture of elected President was to receive the social partners he revisited them elsewhere from Friday many are members of the Government to mark their entry into service by an intense activity of consultations. A way to take the heat out debates, as ecology (read below). Or to start the groundwork of difficult reforms, such as educational material (school map, autonomy of the universities). Xavier Darcos (Education) and Valérie Pécresse (higher education and research) will receive, from tomorrow, one the teachers unions, and the other Presidents of University and student organizations.