French Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, embroiled in a scandal over her recent holidays in Tunisia, is soon to be dismissed, several media reports said Saturday, reported dpa.
The reports, citing government sources, all agreed that President Nicolas Sarkozy aimed to dismiss her by the beginning of the new week at the latest.
The most likely candidate to succeed her is Defence Minister Alain Juppe, the reports - by such leading papers as Le Monde, Le Figaro and Liberation, as well as BFM-TV and France-Info - said.
Alliot-Marie has become embroiled in a conflict-of-interest controversy related to holidays she took in Tunisia at the same time that the popular uprising there was starting to get under way.
At the time, she offered police support for the embattled regime of president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali - who later was forced from power and fled the country amid the uprising - while also accepting a flight on a private jet of a person close to the leadership.