Here is an article to explain you what I'm speaking about:
http://www.france24.com/en/20091102-france-besson-immigration-debate-launched-national-identity-cultureOutside of the electoralist stuff, a few months before regional elections here, which I see it as a bad move for that aim anyways, seems to me that France is inaugurating something here. Moreover, that's a funny question to ask this for a country who built itself since 200 years on universalism. Seems to me that French universalism could have a good life as long as the country was powerful (both Napoleon, 3rd republic, and to an extent De Gaulle), the fact that this interrogation on ourselves comes now that the country has never been so weak since 200 years would be pretty logical then.
That doesn't comes from nowhere, the 2007 presidential campaign has been enough about that too, Sarkozy really tried to build up and identical story telling with his great speech-maker, Henri Guaino, and one of the things that made Ségolène Royal trendy in the PS is that she opened that debate on the left too at the same time.
Well, just comforts what I think, the more an entity is weak, the more the debate about its identity is on.
And, euh, btw, such a debate should
never be in the hands of politics...
Oh, and a last thing. The team of the Edition Spéciale, a midday TV show on Canal+, just shew today that on the website which is here to collect all opinions from French on this question all what goes in the sens of a critics of what the govt does in that realm isn't published. They tried to send several comments, some saying that the French identity was the opposite of the nepotism of Sarkozy and some saying that the French identity was all what Sarkozy promoted, only the latter were published on the site. They also had some feedback in that sens from a UMP member who exposed his view while making a built criticism of what the govt did in that realm, censored.
Come on Eric Besson, why do you feel forced to match with this image of "collaborator" that sticks to you...??
Site is here:
http://www.debatidentitenationale.fr/