THE TELEGRAPH: The French government has claimed its attempts to define "national identity" have overwhelming public support despite accusations it has exploited xenophobic fears.
President Nicolas Sarkozy launched a "great debate" in November, calling it a "noble" meditation on what it means to be French.
But now he is facing increasingly vocal calls – including from within his own camp – to scrap what critics say has become a dangerous slanging match over immigration and a perilous attempt to woo back the hard Right vote three months ahead of regional elections.
on [sic] Monday, the man Mr Sarkozy tasked with leading the debate trumpeted it as an "immense popular success".
Eric Besson, the minister of immigration and national identity insisted that the debate had not "veered off course" into caricature nor was it solely "focused on immigration and Islam".
He announced the results of a TNS Sofres poll he ordered suggesting that 80 per cent of French felt national identity was "weakening".
"The vast majority of contributions are perfectly respectful of our republican values," he said in a press conference.
Mr Besson was responding to claims that a website set up to encourage discussion has turned into an immigrant-bashing forum. About a fifth of the 50,000 entries had to be erased. "They're not publishable," Mr Sarkozy was reported to have complained.
The president called for calm in a televised New Year's address. He said: "Let us be able to debate without tearing ourselves apart, with insulting each other, without losing unity."
Disquiet has grown at what many regard as a threatening presence of Islam in France – home to around six million Muslims. This was compounded by Switzerland's recent vote to ban the building of minarets on mosques.
Right-wing MPs are now promoting a ban on the burka, while another law put before parliament last month would outlaw the waving of foreign flags at weddings in town halls. >>> Henry Samuel in Paris | Monday, January 04, 2010
