French begin debate on what it means to be French (News Feature)

By Siegfried Mortkowitz Nov 2, 2009, 11:40 GMT

Paris - What does it mean to be French? Is it the language? Can you be French and reject immigrants from a war-torn land? Can you be French and wear a burqa?

These and other similarly ticklish questions will be discussed throughout France for the next three months as a broad debate was launched Monday on what the French national identity in the face of increased immigration and multiculturalism.

The event was initiated by Minister of Immigration and National Identity Eric Besson, at the express wish of President Nicolas Sarkozy.

It is scheduled to take place in the prefectures and sub- prefectures of each of the country's 342 local districts, with the participation of NGOs, teachers, trade unions, elected officials and other pillars of society.

The debate is to end on January 31 and its results presented on February 4 at a major conference.

Among the suggestions put forward by Besson to 'better share the values of national identity' is the creation of a 'contract of republican integration' for all foreigners entering or residing on French territory.

For all foreigners who are accorded citizenship, he envisions a 'contract with the nation' that includes an 'interview of assimilation' in which the new citizen's ability to speak French and appreciate the 'values of the Republic' will be evaluated.

Finally, Besson foresees that every young French citizen will be obliged to sing the Marseillaise once a year, following a course on the theme of the national hymn.

Not surprisingly, the debate has sparked a broad debate about its usefulness and purpose, even within the government.

Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said he had reservations about the idea.

'Our future is in Europe,' he told France Info radio Monday. 'This is the debate that must be held, independently of France's values, which everyone knows or recognizes.'

According to a poll by the CSA institute for the daily Le Parisien, 80 per cent of the French people believe that the language is a basic constituent of French identity, followed by the Republic (64 per cent), the flag (61 per cent) and secularism (61 per cent).

The spokesman for the opposition Socialist Party, Benoit Hamon, suggested that the event was an attempt by the government to make the public forget its recent series of 'scandals' and to 'try and regain the approval of the hard-core (right-wing) fringe of its electorate.'

Indeed, the debate on national identity has effectively ended the furore over Culture Minister Frederic Mitterand's admissions of having paid for sex with male prostitutes in Thailand and the candidature of Sarkozy's 23-year-old son for a highly influential post.

Martin Hirsch, the government's High Commissioner for Active Solidarity against Poverty, commented that 'France does not have an identity problem' and called the debate '100 per cent political.'

This opinion is apparently shared by two out of three French adults, who said in a poll by the BVA institute that its aim was to 'mobilize right-wing voters for the regional elections' set for mid- March.

Besson himself suggested as much last month, when he said, 'We should never have abandoned to the (right-wing extremist) National Front a certain number of values, such as patriotism.'

Recent polls have shown the National Front gaining in popularity, and the support of the ruling UMP party falling.

The National Front has long made nationalism its main campaign issue. Its founder Jean-Marie Le Pen made headlines in the past by saying that the French national football team did not reflect the country's identity because it had too many black and North African players, some of whom did not sing the Marseillaise at the start of a match.