From Steven Erlanger, the New York Times:  In a hastily scheduled speech to the nation, President Nicolas Sarkozy announced Sunday evening that he had once more reshuffled his cabinet, removing the foreign minister, Michèle Alliot-Marie, after only three months in office and replacing her with Alain Juppé, the defense minister and a former prime minister and foreign minister.

Ms. Alliot-Marie had been a focus of controversy after taking a vacation to Tunisia as antigovernment demonstrations were under way there, and amid disclosures of her family’s business dealings in the country. …

He spoke of an effort to “refound” his stalled “Union for the Mediterranean” to better aid the transition to democracy of nations in North Africa and to better control illegal immigration. “Europe is in the front line,” Mr. Sarkozy said, and he called for a European summit meeting to discuss how to help new democracies and to find a joint position on immigration, to deal with those fleeing uncertainty and violence in North Africa.

Mr. Sarkozy announced other shifts in the French cabinet. Gérard Longuet, 65, the head of Mr. Sarkozy’s Union for a Popular Movement in the French Senate, becomes defense minister. Claude Guéant, a Sarkozy intimate, becomes interior minister, replacing another Sarkozy confidant, Brice Hortefeux, who is expected to become a political counselor to Mr. Sarkozy to prepare for the 2012 presidential election. …

The change was the fourth cabinet reshuffle within a year, a measure of Mr. Sarkozy’s difficulties and changing fortunes. …

Mr. Sarkozy’s popularity ratings are at historical lows, hovering around 30 percent.  (photo: Reuters)

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