France Gets First N.African Minister in Over 40 Years
Tokia Saifi, named secretary of state for sustainable development in President Jacques Chirac's interim center-right government, said her appointment was a clear sign France had rejected Le Pen's brand of prejudice.
"I believe this is an important gesture, particularly after the presidential election we have just had in France," Saifi, who is a Muslim, told Reuters, hours after Chirac named the transitional government.
The 42-year-old's appointment comes two days after Chirac trounced hard-rightist Le Pen in a presidential runoff, after the National Front leader garnered 18 percent of the first-round vote on an anti-immigration, anti-Europe platform.
"France was wounded, but the people mobilized and Mr. Chirac has today sent a strong sign that the people want to live together," The free-marketeer European Parliamentarian said.
Saifi, a member of the Thatcherite Liberal Democratic Party, is part of the new government named by Chirac that will rule until elections in June and aims to get tough on security while listening to voter concerns on jobs and the economy.
She will be France's first minister of North African origin since 1959, when the country had a minister in charge of its then colony Algeria.
"I just want to do my job well," she said.
Saifi, 42, was born in Northern France to Algerian parents. A leftist activist in the 1980s, she moved to the right and launched a failed bid for a seat in 1995 local elections.
After being recruited by ultra-liberal Alain Madelin, who stood for president this year, Saifi lost again in 1998 regional elections before eventually being elected a European parliamentarian in 1999.
In Brussels she has championed human rights, focusing on immigration and women's issues.
Chirac also made waves on Tuesday by giving France its first woman defense minister, chairwoman of his Rally For the Republic (RPR) Party Michele Alliot-Marie.