France’s Interior Minister and presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy, his popularity soaring, on Wednesday night threw down the gauntlet to President Jacques Chirac, saying some form of affirmative action is essential to overcome the problems of the country’s ethnic minorities.
After three weeks of the worst urban violence to hit France for 40 years, Sarkozy, one of very few French politicians to favour positive discrimination, said in an interview and in the Senate that ”special measures” are needed to help youths of North and black African origin find jobs.
Chirac, in a televised address on Monday, ruled out such an approach. The principle that all its citizens are equal, regardless of race or religion, means France has long rejected positive discrimination as contrary to its republican values.
But Sarkozy, buoyed by an opinion poll saying his approval rating has soared by 11 points since the rioting started on October 27, told the Senate that ”some positive discrimination is needed to provide opportunities to France’s young”.
In an interview with L’Express, he said: ”I challenge the idea that we all start life on the same line. Some people start further back because they have a handicap — colour, culture or the district they come from. We have to help them.”
Sarkozy’s rise in popularity came despite widespread criticism of his allegedly inflammatory language and tough-guy approach to the rioting. The minister referred to the troublemakers as ”yobs” and ”rabble”, and promised to ”clean out” rundown suburbs ”with a power hose”.
But public opinion has backed him.
”It seems clear that while intellectuals, social workers, journalists and the left were offended, the man and woman in the street was not,” said one analyst, Pascal Perrineau. ”They seem to appreciate Sarkozy talking to them in everyday language, which most French politicians never do.”
The violence reduced further on Tuesday, with 163 cars set alight compared with a peak of 1 400 on November 6. The Senate approved a law extending until mid-February measures that allow local authorities to impose curfews at will.
Wednesday’s survey, by the Ipsos group, showed the personal approval rating of the Prime Minister, Dominique de Villepin — who echoed Sarkozy’s law-and-order stance but also announced a package of aid measures for the most depressed estates — has risen seven points to 62%.
Ipsos said the higher support level for Sarkozy is largely explained by his record popularity among far-right voters, 90% of whom approved his handling of the crisis. But his support also rose to a record 40% among Socialist voters.
Far from hindering his presidential hopes, the unrest could advance them, allowing him to plead the necessity of a ”clean break” with past social and economic policy, as well as with those, such as Chirac and De Villepin, who want merely to reform it. — Guardian Unlimited Â