US embassy cable - 05PARIS3952

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 003952 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR OES, EUR/WE, AND INR 
STATE PASS WHITE HOUSE FOR OSTP 
STATE ALSO PASS NSF/INT/GOMBAY 
 
E.O. 12356:  N/A 
TAGS: TPHY, TSPA, TSPL, KSCA, PGOV, PINR, FR 
SUBJECT: NEW FRENCH RESEARCH MINISTER 
 
REF: (A) 04 PARIS 3248 (B) 04 PARIS 1452 (C) PARIS 3878 
 
U.S. GOVERNMENT USE ONLY; NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION 
 
1.  Summary.  President Chirac appointed a new government 
on June 2 (ref C).  The research portfolio remains folded 
into a large Education Ministry.  Francois Goulard, the 
new `Minister-Delegate for Higher Education and Research,' 
will face a number of sensitive challenges, including the 
final drafting of the long-awaited research bill package 
(ref A), the arm-wrestling over the ITER fusion project 
(para 6), the implementation of an overhaul in France's 
top research agency, and lowering tensions in the 
university sector.  Goulard's latitude of action as 
`Minister-Delegate' under the supervision of new Education 
Minister Gilles de Robien and his credibility facing the 
research community remain to be seen.  End summary. 
 
From Transportation to Research: New Team in Charge 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
2.  The new, streamlined, government does not include a 
fully-fledged research ministry.  The research portfolio 
is included in a larger ministry encompassing primary and 
secondary education, higher education, and research. 
Francois Goulard replaces Francois d'Aubert as Minister- 
Delegate for Higher Education and Research (d'Aubert was 
not in charge of higher education).  The new Minister- 
Delegate will work under the supervision of Gilles de 
Robien who succeeds Francois Fillon at the head of the 
Education Ministry.  D'Aubert and Fillon have both 
departed the government. 
 
3.  The two newcomers in charge of education and research 
issues worked together previously in the Ministry of 
Transportation.  Goulard served as Secretary of State for 
Transport and Sea since March 2004. As such, he was 
already under the supervision of Gilles de Robien, 
Transportation Minister from 2002-2005.  The new Education 
Minister is ranked sixth in the new cabinet while the 
Minister-Delegate for Higher Education and Research ranks 
25th (out of 31 ministers). 
 
Biographical Information 
------------------------ 
4.  Goulard, 51, is not a scientist.  He graduated from 
the Ecole Nationale d'Administration (ENA) and the 
prestigious Institute of Political Studies, with a degree 
in law.  He started his career as magistrate at the French 
General Accounting Office.  From 1986-88, he was 
successively technical adviser and chief of cabinet of 
Minister-Delegate for Post and Telecommunications Gerard 
Longuet before becoming manager of a credit institution 
for small- and medium-size companies (1989-97).  His 
political responsibilities have included mayor of Vannes, 
2001-2004, and Union for the French Democracy (UDF), 
Liberal Democrat (DL) and Union for a Popular Movement 
(UMP) Deputy from 1997-2004. 
 
Sensitive Priorities Ahead 
-------------------------- 
5.  The first priority for Goulard in the coming weeks 
will be to complete the drafting of the long-awaited multi- 
year bill on research.  (Note: While the previous 
government announced that the research bill package would 
be adopted by the Council of Ministers mid-June, with an 
initial discussion in Parliament before the summer recess, 
thousands of researchers protested on May 20 to denounce 
the current draft and the absence of a multiyear financial 
commitment on the part of the government.  The appointment 
of a new government with its own priorities in the 
economic and social sector may disrupt this agenda.  The 
science community may also use the government reshuffle as 
an opportunity to try to strike a "better deal" with the 
new minister. End note) 
 
6.  The second priority on the science agenda, although 
this goes far beyond Goulard's purview, will be to 
complete the process to bring the International 
Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) fusion project 
to France as part of the overall EU ITER candidacy (choice 
of site location to be made before the end of June). 
 
7.  Another pressing issue, as part of the GOF's agenda to 
reform French science, is the implementation of a major 
overhaul at the National Center for Scientific Research 
(CNRS, Europe's largest basic research agency).  The 
reform, approved in May 2005, aims to reduce the number of 
CNRS's traditional eight thematic departments (replaced by 
four super-departments to promote transdisciplinarity), 
and to combine them with cross-cutting departments - one 
for engineering research and one for environment and 
sustainable development.  The plan also aims to reduce the 
number of CNRS's directly supported laboratories.  Labs 
jointly held with universities could pass into the hands 
of the latter. Partnerships at the EU level will also be 
encouraged. 
 
8.  Other topics on Goulard's agenda include the 
consolidated support for innovation and private research 
through, notably, the creation of a new `Industrial 
Innovation Agency' announced by President Chirac in early 
2005 and the creation of `poles of competitiveness' (to be 
selected by an interministerial committee early July). 
 
Comment 
------- 
9.  De Robien, reportedly an expert on complex structures 
of social dialogue, will need all his skills to implement 
the highly contested Fillon law on education.  He will 
also have to face the teachers' discontent concerning the 
sensitive new law on decentralization (management of 
teachers' careers) in a context of job reduction in the 
education sector.  Given these challenges in the education 
sector, Goulard may enjoy a certain freedom of action 
concerning R&D issues.  But Goulard will also somehow have 
to deal with the university sector which has already 
voiced its discontent denouncing budgetary rigor, 
organizational cumbersomeness, and a loss of university 
standing. 
 
WOLFF