Labor Minister Eric Woerth, who is in charge of pensions reform, also hinted at concessions to trade unions to win acceptance of the unpopular plan to raise the retirement age, which he will present to the cabinet on Tuesday.
The funding scandal has driven Sarkozy's approval rating to record lows, embarrassed the ruling center-right and contributed to the government's loss of a formerly ultra-safe parliamentary seat in a by-election on Sunday.
Critics have accused Woerth of taking an illegal 150,000 euro cash donation for Sarkozy's 2007 election campaign from France's richest woman, Liliane Bettencourt, and her late husband. They also questioned whether he abused his position as budget minister until March to shield her from a tax audit.
Woerth has denied receiving any illegal funds. The Finance Ministry's tax inspectorate concluded in a report rushed out on Sunday that he had not intervened in the tax affairs of the Bettencourts, or their wealth manager or friends.
Woerth told Europe 1 radio he had not contemplated resigning as UMP treasurer at the height of the furor, but would consider it now that the tax inspectorate had exonerated him.
"I needed to have this (report) from the General Inspectorate of Finance ... I will think about it (resigning)," he said, declining to give a timeframe.
LOSS OF TRUST
An opinion poll conducted before the report was released indicated most voters do not trust Woerth. The LH2 survey published on Monday found that 57 percent of respondents had no confidence in the minister and only 28 percent trusted him.
The government was quick to proclaim that the investigation had cleared Woerth, even though it did not cover allegations by Bettencourt's former bookkeeper that he received illegal cash for Sarkozy's 2007 presidential campaign.
Woerth was treasurer of Sarkozy's campaign and remained UMP treasurer while serving as budget minister in charge of tax matters, and his wife worked for Bettencourt's wealth manager, prompting accusations of conflicts of interest.
In his television interview, Sarkozy is expected to try to refocus public attention on the pension reform and on budget savings. These are needed to bring down a public deficit equal to 8 percent of French gross domestic product and public debt of more than 80 percent of GDP.
The government plans to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62 by 2018, increase the contribution years required for a full pension, and raise civil servants' contributions to private sector levels over a decade.
Woerth said the draft bill may be amended after talks with unions to take greater account of arduous work in the industrial sector when determining entitlement to earlier retirement.
"On arduous work ... I will be in Alsace to discuss this with regard to industrial jobs, and I think between now and September the government could amend the draft bill a little."
Police investigating the funding allegations are looking into statements by Bettencourt's former bookkeeper, Claire Thibout, which wealth manager Patrice de Maistre has denied. They are also probing suspected laundering of the proceeds of tax evasion by Bettencourt via undeclared Swiss bank accounts.
The public prosecutor in charge of the probes, Philippe Courroye, a personal friend of Sarkozy's, rejected suggestions that he had been chosen to bury the case.
"The investigation will be conducted as always with concern for procedural rigour, respect for rights, and to reveal the truth. All the evidence will be carefully verified," he told the newspaper Le Monde.
Bettencourt was a big beneficiary of a so-called fiscal shield enacted after Sarkozy took office, under which the total tax take is limited to 50 percent of a person's income.
Woerth confirmed that the heiress to the L'Oreal cosmetics fortune received a 30 million euro rebate as a result.
Sunday's by-election in Rambouillet, southwest of Paris, was won by a Green candidate backed by the opposition Socialists on a low turnout, highlighting the political damage to Sarkozy from the Bettencourt affair. The left had never won the seat before.
Socialist leader Martine Aubry called the result "a very clear snub to the president and the government, and a strong rejection of the climate created by these revelations and scandals."
