The decline of the National Front in France

After the feeble score of the National Front in the first round of legislative elections in France (4.3 %), Sylvain Besson considers that Nicolas Sarkozy managed to weaken Jean-Marie Le Pen's party by taking over his favourite themes "delinquency, immigration, 'national identity' and the excessive weight of the State. ... This is an important lesson for other European countries, which are all confronted with more or less virulent forms of populism. It is better to take the preoccupations of citizens seriously, even when politically incorrect, than to seek refuge in verbal antifascism, no doubt full of good intention, but 'tragically inefficient on ground-level'. It is better to propose solutions, even if they are flawed and sometimes demagogic, than to presume that the far-right will disappear thanks to a few moral condemnations. It is by understanding this that Nicolas Sarkozy managed to become president.”

» full article (external link, French)
More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Domestic Policy, » France, » Europe
All available articles from » Sylvain Besson

» To the complete press review of Tuesday, June 12, 2007