Sarkozy under fire over tough talk on immigrants

FRENCH President Nicolas Sarkozy’s tough talk on Gypsies and immigrants faced a fierce backlash yesterday, drawing fire from the right, the left and the Catholic Church while failing to boost him in the polls.

With two years to go before he seeks re-election and with his popularity at an all-time low, Sarkozy has this month attempted to recapture the political initiative with a populist and racially tinged law and order message.

Police have begun rounding up and expelling Roma from Eastern Europe and dismantling unauthorised Gypsy campgrounds, while Sarkozy has threatened to strip some foreign-born French criminals of their nationality.

Early opinion polls appeared to show that a majority of voters approved of the crackdown, but an initial surge of interest does not seem to have translated into a boost to the president’s personal standing.

A poll by Viavoice for the daily Liberation showed Sarkozy’s approval rating dipping back one point to 34%, his lowest score since winning election in 2007 on the back of strong law and order promises.

The same pollsters found that a majority of voters, 55%, would like to see one of Sarkozy’s left-wing opponents win the presidency.

Political scientist Jean-Luc Parodi said that while Sarkozy had won some support from backers of the far-right National Front, he had “shocked” most centrist and left-wing sympathisers.

“The shot was too powerful, and apparently badly aimed,” he said.

Meanwhile, France’s race relations problems have drawn criticism from bodies as august as the Vatican and the United Nations. Scenting weakness, Sarkozy’s rivals on the left and right have stepped up their criticism.

“There is today a stain of shame on our flag,” former prime minister Dominique de Villepin – who will probably challenge Sarkozy in the 2012 presidential race – declared in an editorial in the newspaper Le Monde.

Accusing Sarkozy of violating France’s constitution by treating foreign-born citizens differently from natives, Villepin accused the president of having committed a “moral fault” and exposing France to “national indignity”.