Baroin to replace Lagarde as finance minister

Reuters - Francois Baroin, a protege of Jacques Chirac whose youthful air once earned him the nickname “Harry Potter”, takes over as French finance minister at a challenging time for both France and the euro zone.

The 46-year-old is taking over from the IMF-bound Christine Lagarde after a 14-month stint as budget minister where he advocated fiscal discipline and economic convergence with Germany, albeit at a gradual pace and without painful austerity measures.

Emerging from the shadow of his mentors, former president Jacques Chirac and ex-prime minister Dominique de Villepin, Baroin will be under pressure to carve out his own political legacy in a landscape largely occupied by veterans.

He faces a tough comparison with Lagarde, whose experience as chairman of U.S. law firm Baker & McKenzie gave her status as a seasoned international player and a hard-nosed negotiator, equally at ease in English as in her native French.

By contrast Baroin speaks English poorly, has not proved himself in talks on a European or global level, and has only worked abroad as minister to France’s overseas territories.

When a French journalist asked Baroin a question in heavily accented English a few hours before his appointment, Baroin shot back, in French: “We can take classes together.”

Baroin will have little time to polish his English, however, as euro zone governments, with France and Germany in the lead, battle around the clock to hammer out a new solution to Greece’s financing woes and help it avoid a default.

The new finance minister has provided little insight into his views on the euro zone debt crisis, aside from saying that France must protect its AAA credit rating at all costs to avoid becoming another casualty of pitiless debt markets.

APPEAL TO CENTRISTS

Baroin’s appointment takes on more meaning in the context of an upcoming presidential election, with President Nicolas Sarkozy keen to bring unifying figures and traditional Gaullists into his cabinet ahead of the April, 2012 vote.

Baroin has won points with many centre-right voters by setting himself apart from Sarkozy, particularly on the national debate over the role of Islam and immigrants in France.

Baroin continues to meet regularly with Chirac, whom he calls his “spiritual father”, and bristles at Sarkozy’s frequent jabs at the former president. But Baroin has said that his loyalty lies firmly with Sarkozy, and his appointment to the post of finance minister seals their entente.

Born in Paris to an upper-class family—his father was a close friend to Chirac—Baroin, like Sarkozy, never attended the elite ENA public administration school which serves as a waystation for French politicians, and has fewer diplomas under his belt than many ministers.

He started his career as a political correspondent for French public radio before becoming a member of parliament in 1993 and the mayor of Troyes, a mid-sized city west of Paris, two years later.

Baroin served as campaign spokesman for Chirac during his campaign for the 1995 presidential election and soon became, at 29, the youngest member of government under Prime Minister Alain Juppe.

In the past five years he has managed to shake off his reputation as a dilettante, shedding his Harry Potter glasses and undergoing a much-commented-upon deepening of the voice.

As budget minister, he earned Sarkozy’s confidence through his handling of cutbacks for the public sector in spite of a few notable gaffes, including an erroneous announcement that France would raise its taxes in 2013.