By Kerstin Gehmlich
PARIS (Reuters) - French Socialist leaders accused president-elect Nicolas Sarkozy of trying to undermine their party by appointing leftists to his cabinet and said it would be treacherous for opposition figures to heed his call.
Conservative leader Sarkozy, who takes office on Wednesday, has held talks with several Socialists, party sources say, and offered the foreign ministry post to leftist Bernard Kouchner.
The news has jolted the Socialists, who are still reeling from their third straight presidential defeat, and highlighted the deep divisions that risk undermining the party's efforts to rally support for parliamentary elections in June.
Socialist Party leader Francois Hollande said he had warned Kouchner that he would belong to a rightist team if he took up Sarkozy's offer.
"It will be a government of the right that will conduct policies of the right, with a president of the right. One needs to have coherence and constancy. The rest is a matter for one's conscience," he said, urging more "morality in politics".
"Poaching, treachery, profiting from people's frustrations - I leave that to others," he said.
France is to hold a two-round legislative election next month and Sarkozy is keen to secure a large majority to enable him to push through his reform agenda. Recent surveys see his conservatives ahead of the Socialists.
"(Sarkozy) is campaigning for the parliamentary elections and his goal is to have as little opposition as possible and to spark divisions on the left," Jean-Marc Arnault, the leader of the Socialist group in parliament, told a news conference. Continued...
The new President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy has appointed François Fillon to head the new French government. Fillon's predecessor Dominique de Villepin stepped down yesterday, and formally handed over the post during a ceremony today.

The nomination did not come as a surprise after the British newspaper the '''' had reported on May 8 that Sarkozy had introduced Fillon to Tony Blair in a telephone conversation.

François Fillon (53) has been the political advisor of Sarkozy in the  for the past 2 years, and he was Sarko's campaign leader during the recent presidential elections. Fillon has experience in negotiating with the trade unions, having undertaken controversial reforms of the  and the pension system. Sarkozy in his inauguration speech on Wednesday reiterated his plans to reform the French labour and social system, and Fillon will have to oversee these reforms as the new Prime Minister. Sarkozy said he wants to make the economy more flexible and lessen social tensions.


'''' reported that Fillon is an Anglophile; his wife Penelope Clarke, with whom he has 5 children, was born in Wales. Ideologically, Fillon is being described as a moderate left-leaning member of the conservative UMP party.

Fillon had his first experience as a minister in 1993 when he became Minister for the Higher education and Research under PM . He later became Minister for the Post office, Telecommunications and Space, then Minister for the social Affairs, Work and Solidarity, and finally Minister for national Education, the Higher education and Research. At the university, he studied public law and political sciences.

Sarkozy might announce his cabinet of 15 ministers as early as Friday, half of which are going to be women, he said. Fillon will lead the UMP in the parliamentary elections next month. A poll on Wednesday predicted a 1.5% increase in votes for the UMP, up to 40%, compared to 28% status-quo for the allied socialists.

Reports say that Sarkozy has offered the foreign minister post to , co-founder of , who is seen as being on the left in French politics.