Sarkozy is an immigrant himself

France's president Nicolas Sarkozy has invited several EU member states to an immigration summit taking place today, Monday, in Paris. The meeting will focus among other things on the Roma issue. The liberal daily Mladá fronta Dnes considers it particularly ironic that the dispute over the Roma was kicked off by Sarkozy of all people: "By a 'Hungarian' with French-Jewish roots whose name is also common among the Roma people. It stems from the word 'sár' (muddy) and 'köz' (crossroad), and refers to its bearer as someone who lives in a muddy ghetto or belongs there in terms of social status. Some traditional Hungarian villages used to have non-surfaced streets where the poor and the Roma lived. In Žitný ostrov [an area in southern Slovakia where members of the Hungarian minority live] people still say: 'It doesn't matter what you do you'll always be a Sárközi' - a victim of your environment. At least from a moral point of view, Sarkozy has remained a 'Sárközi'."

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