France's Dati to quit government

Ms Dati will be second on the UMP party list in the Paris region

French Justice Minister Rachida Dati, the first politician of North African origin to hold a senior cabinet post in France, is stepping down.

Ms Dati, 43, has attracted criticism for her management style and gossip about her fashions and love life.

She is to run for the ruling UMP party in the June European elections.

President Nicolas Sarkozy did not explain why she was quitting, but made it clear that she could not stay in the cabinet if she became a Euro MP.

She will be number two on the centre-right UMP's list for the Paris region, after Agriculture Minister Michel Barnier. So she is almost certain to get elected to the European Parliament, correspondents say.

Earlier this month she came under fire from women's groups for returning to work just five days after giving birth.

Women in France are guaranteed by law 16 weeks of paid maternity leave, but the French labour code does not apply to ministers like Ms Dati.

A first-time mother, and single, she has kept the father's identity under wraps, telling reporters she had "a complicated private life" and sparking an intense guessing game in the French press.

Ms Dati shot to prominence in 2007, as a symbol of ethnic diversity in President Sarkozy's new administration.