About month ago, Jean-Louis Borloo officially became minister of ecology. It was his first job transfer under Sarkozy’s presidency. Indeed, he became minister of finance when Nicolas Sarkozy was elected. But, due to the resignation of the ex-former minister of Ecology, Alain Juppé, Sarkozy made Borloo France’s minister of ecology.
During his presidential campaign, Nicolas Sarkozy had an entire plan to fight Global Warming. Indeed, his ecological ideas seemed very interesting and many analysts said that his plan would have good chances of working properly. And, when Sarkozy won the presidential, Juppé became the minister of ecology. Alain Juppé is a bright person. He is the former mayor of Bordeaux – 4th largest city of France-, and is known for having made Bordeaux an ecological city. Tradition states that if a minister looses at the parliamentary election, he or she is strongly recommended to resign from his or her current position. That was the case of Juppé. Jean-Louis Borloo – ex-minister of Finance – replaced him.
As said previously, Juppé knows a lot about the ecological world and he is a successful person when it comes to greening a city, a region, or a country (why not even the world while we’re at it). As for Jean-Louis Borloo, he does not seem to know much about the ecological world. Indeed, his entire business and political career was related to money and finance. For many years, he was the CEO of France Telecom, a nation-wide phone service company, and then Chirac hired him as Minister of France’s working sector. Many politicians appreciate his ideas and his way of working. The main highlight is that, throughout his career, he ignored any kind of matters concerning the “green” world. He took care of a completely different domain.
My point is that his lack of knowledge in ecology might have an impact on Sarkozy’s ideas to “green” France. Being a minister of Ecology does not sound as easy as one may think. It requires the ability to speak to the public, knowing how the “green” world works, and how to set up projects and suitably work on them. Of course, it requires a significant amount of skills and knowledge in the “green” business. Over the past few decades, France has been a leading example in the ecological world, especially in the recycling business. The question is, will Borloo be able to meet up to France’s recent ecological standards? If he fails to do so, not only will it have an impact on France’s “green” reputation, but also on his own personal reputation.
Jean-Louis Borloo definitely is educated in finance – over the past few years, he has had high-ranked positions and has proved himself competent. However, he lacks knowledge in ecology, which is worrying. Moreover, France’s reputation in the “green” business is at stake and, at this time, it is unsure if Sarkozy’s ideas on ecological matters will work as expected.