The French call into question their 'national identity"

Jean Portante points out that "national identity is a vague concept, defying definition, in which we can breathe the best and the worst. There is no doubt that when Ségolène Royal talks of the nation, she is thinking of values such as secularism, human rights, social justice, equality of the sexes, democracy etc. But in what way are these values exclusively French ? And how can she be sure that those listening are on the same wave length? And how can a minister, as advocated by Nicolas Sarkozy, be fit to define the essence of national identity ? There is nothing more difficult and dangerous than to claim to define the identity of a nation. What does it mean to be French, Luxembourgeois, Italian, German... ? It is a philosophical question to which no thinker worthy of the name has found a definitive answer. How then can presidential candidates take it on themselves to do so without demagogy or bad faith ?"

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