Jospin vows to continue reforms

Paris - The French Prime Minister, Mr Lionel Jospin, and his new Finance Minister, Mr Laurent Fabius, yesterday vowed to reform…

Paris - The French Prime Minister, Mr Lionel Jospin, and his new Finance Minister, Mr Laurent Fabius, yesterday vowed to reform the French public sector. Protests by civil servants at attempts to change the education and tax systems led to the replacement of Mr Jospin's first government on Monday.

"We will pursue the reforms we started," Mr Jospin said in the National Assembly, presenting his dismissal of four ministers and the appointment of eight new ministers, as "a change within the government". "Growth" and "reform" must be linked, he said.