Sarkozy admits 'error' in nepotism row over son’s plum job

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has acknowledged the decision to let his son Jean seek a job managing France's top business district, the La Defense skyscraper park west of Paris, was "probably an error", a source at the French presidential palace said late on Monday.

A 23-year-old second-year law student, Jean Sarkozy had announced in October that he intended to pursue a bid to chair the EPAD agency managing La Defense, home to 2,500 corporate giants such as Total and Société Générale bank. After two weeks of controversy during which critics slammed Sarkozy junior as evidence France was becoming a "banana republic" run at his father's whim, the president’s son dropped the job bid.

The Elysée source also alluded to a “likely cabinet reshuffling” to ostensibly take place after regional elections in March. Sports Minister Rama Yade was singled out in the statement as a minister who has had “difficulty adapting to any team.”