Liberte, egalite, identite?

France is launching a three-month public debate on national identity on Monday that is enjoying large-scale support among the public but is being derided as cynical and perhaps even dangerous political positioning by critics.

The debate on French-ness will include discussions by French and European lawmakers as well as regional officials with students, parents, business leaders and unions on symbols such as the national anthem and hot-button issues like Muslim headscarves.

The plan has been spearheaded by France's minister for immigration and national identity, Eric Besson, but President Nicolas Sarkozy has also weighed in.

"France has a particular identity which is not above the others but which is its own," Sarkozy told farmers in eastern France. "I don't understand how anyone could hesitate to say the words 'French national identity'."

The debates will end with a high-profile conference in late February focusing on the twin questions of "what it means to be French today" and "what immigration contributes to our national identity."

Striking a chord

The national identity issue is not new to France, or to Sarkozy, once the country's hard-hitting interior minister. It was a key topic in his 2007 presidential campaign and struck a chord with many voters. It has re-emerged as Sarkozy has found himself engulfed by two major political controversies.

One was the revelation that Sarkozy's culture minister, Frederic Mitterand, used to pay for sex during trips to Asia. Another saw the president fending off allegations of nepotism after his 23-year-old son Jean was seen as being groomed for the job of running France's premiere business district.

Analysts have said Sarkozy is also using the identity debate to draw attention away from more intractable issues such as rising unemployment and a ballooning budget deficit.

They also say the move seeks to shore up support with Sarkozy's right wing. Officials around Sarkozy worry that right-wing voters might stay home during regional elections in March, which would help the left.

But Besson, the immigration minister, has said the debate is about reasserting republican values, which many on the right think have come under threat.

"We must reaffirm the values of national identity and the pride in being French," he said.

"For example, it would be good if all young French had the opportunity once a year to sing the Marseillaise," he added, referring to the French national anthem.

Public support

French voters are generally in favor of the debate, according to a poll published on Sunday in the newspaper Le Parisien. Sixty percent of the French, including 72 percent of right-wing voters and half of those from the left, back the idea. The survey found that 35 percent are against the plan.

The poll also asked about what people thought constituted French identity. The French language was judged "very important" or "rather important" by 98 percent of respondents, followed by the national anthem and the flag.

The expression "national identity" was imported by the extreme-right National Front party in the 1980s, according to French historian Regis Meyran who has written a book on the subject.

"It seems clear to me that he is drawing from the register of the extreme right and that it's a calculated move," Meyran told Reuters.

Socialist headache

France's political opposition agrees, and has called the debate "dangerous," saying defining one single national identity is difficult in a country marked by successive waves of immigration.

The Socialist party said on Sunday it refused to participate in this "manipulation" of identity by conservatives.

"It's the right which has a problem with the values of the Republic," said spokesman Benoit Hamon, adding that the goal of the debate was "to mobilize voters from the extreme right."

But the issue is something of a headache for the left, which does not want to be sidelined on an issue that resonates with the public.

Breaking from the party stance, former Socialist presidential candidate Segolene Royal said the debate should not be rejected by those on the left.

"We need to take back the symbols of the nation," she said. "That's why I've wanted to have the Marseillaise sung at my meetings and reclaim the flag which belongs to everyone, not just to the right."

jam/Reuters/AP/AFP
Editor: Nancy Isenson