Debate on the French identity a ploy to win extreme-right voters

The leftist intellectuals Aquilino Morelle and Manuel Valls write in the daily Le Monde that the debate on national identity launched by French President Nicolas Sarkozy is being used to fish for voters on the extreme right: "With this initiative Nicolas has committed a moral and a political mistake. Not that the question of the French identity should't be subject to debate. On the contrary, this old nation impregnated with politics and history must scrutinise, rightly or wrongly, its future, its values, its place in the global world, its role in today's fast-paced world and the very meaning of its existence. The problem is the president's hidden agenda. He chose to launch this debate ... to lure the voters of the [extreme-right] Front National in the secret hope of destabilising the left, which is supposed to be uncomfortable with such an issue. ... But such tactics and manoeuvring is unworthy of the office of president."

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