On the eve of his election, the 52-year-old leader opened his arms wide and declared he wanted to be a president for all of France. He is now trying to realize this promise through the composition of his government -- without endangering the most important aspects of his program when it comes to justice and domestic security.

Sarkozy's choice to open his cabinet to politicians from other parts of the French political spectrum started on Thursday with the choice of prime minister: Francois Fillon is considered a representative of the left within Sarkozy's conservative Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party. He pushed through a reform of the pension system that provoked massive street demonstrations when he was Minister for Social Affairs, Work and Solidarity in 2003. But Fillon weathered the crisis and can pride himself now on having achieved the only effective reform during the 12 years that Sarkozy's predecessor, Jacques Chirac, spent in office.

Still, full-on confrontation is not Fillon's style. "He avoids clashes," one trade union representative has said. Most importantly -- and in stark contrast to Sarkozy -- he's a calm diplomatic minister who can balance the new president's penchant for impulsive behavior and activism. "The new head of government knows he has to come to terms with a hyperactive and omnipresent president," French daily Le Parisien commented on Friday.

That may be even more true of the new government's "banner" member, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner. The 67-year-old Socialist has been the undisputed champion of all popularity polls in France for years. The founder of Médecins Sans Frontières, he's already gone down in recent history as the "French doctor." He is an expert on the Balkans, where he spent three years as the first UN Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Interim Administration in Kosovo. He is considered pro-US, generally pro-Israel and was one of the very few French politicians not to demonize the US invasion of Iraq.

But whether he'll find much room for maneuver as Foreign Minister is far from clear. International politics is considered a "reserved area" for the head of government in the French constitution. Even during eras when France's presidents have compromised with the opposition in parliament, they've always had their say when it came to foreign policy. And everyone agrees Sarkozy is not someone who puts on a show of restraint -- especially now that he has shown, by his visit to Angela Merkel immediately following his inauguration on Wednesday, that his priorities include at least one foreign policy issue -- Europe.

A Nod to June Elections

By gesturing toward the political center and left in assigning cabinet positions, Sarkozy has left a few of his followers empty-handed. This shows a measure of seriousness in Sarkozy's promise to lead tout la France -- and it's all the more important ahead of parliamentary elections in June, when winning a comfortable majority for his party will be vital to Sarkozy in maintaining significant freedom to rule.

For exactly that reason, perhaps, a leading politician from the center-liberal UDF party -- the party of third-place presidential candidate Francois Bayrou -- has wound up on Sarkozy's team. Hervé Morin, until now the UDF's parliamentary leader, will be Defense Minister. It's Sarkozy's way of thanking his centrist opponent for losing gracefully: After attracting 18 percent of the electorate in the first round of presidential voting, Bayrou rallied his troops and sent them over relatively compactly to Sarkozy's side.

Morin is not the only "defector" in the cabinet. Eric Besson, the former close advisor to Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal who spectacularly changed sides during the run-up to the elections, is now being rewarded with a position as state secretary. Overall, four left politicians belong to the new cabinet, including Martin Hirsch, successor of the deceased Abbé Pierre as director of the charity Emmaus.

Sarkozy keeps his promise

Sarkozy has kept his promise of assembling an inclusive cabinet, but he's also counting on ministers from his own team when it comes to positions he cares about. There is Brice Hortefeux, for one, the new Minister for Imigration, Integration and National Identity. Hortefeux has been a political companion and a close confidant of Sarkozy -- who until this week was France's Interior Minister -- for decades.

Sarkozy and Rachida Dati have not known each other for quite so long. Dati, a 41-year-old lawyer from a family of immigrants, was Sarkozy's spokeswoman during the elections. But she's also considered a close confidante. In taking over the Justice Ministry, she will shoulder a tremendous housecleaning task: After the scandalous Outreau trial, which began with allegations of pedophilia and ended in a massive miscarriage of justice, a comprehensive reform of the ministry is considered essential. It will also be Dati's job to implement Sarkozy's hobby horse -- lowering the age of accountability for young people convicted of crimes, and introducing maximum penalties for repeat offenders.