Франция умнеет на глазах ?

[Митяй]

When Jean-Marie Le Pen, the veteran leader of the far-right National Front, started campaigning for tight immigration controls more than two decades ago, it sparked an outcry among mainstream politicians on the left and the right in France. So did his attempts to blame polygamous African families for the country's social problems and his calls to expel illegal immigrants.

This week, pledges to curb immigration figured prominently in New Year's addresses by government ministers. On Thursday, Nicolas Sarkozy, the headline-grabbing interior minister, reiterated that he wanted France to expel 25,000 illegal immigrants this year, up from 20,00 last year and 10,000 in 2002. Like other ministers, he zeroed in on polygamy and pledged to restrict visas for wives and children of immigrants.

"You still win elections in the center in France, but the center has moved," remarked one senior government official, who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak publicly about politics.

Recent opinion polls are telling. In a survey conducted by TNS-Sofres last month, 43 percent of respondents judged Le Pen's ideas "excessive," but only 39 percent of respondents found them "unacceptable," down from 48 percent in 1997.

Sixty-three percent of those questioned said there were too many immigrants in France, an increase of 4 points from 2000.

A separate poll by the CSA institute showed that one in three French people consider themselves "racist;" a year ago it was one in four.

"These statistics don't tell us anything about whether more people will vote for Le Pen, but they do tell us that his ideas don't put people off in the same way they used to," said Brice Teinturier, political research director at TNS-Sofres in Paris.

But Le Pen's influence on politics goes beyond language. An analysis in the newspaper Le Monde last month listed a string of Le Pen's proposals that have now been addressed by the government of Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, including some of those mentioned by Sarkozy on Thursday.

Le Pen, who this week announced his campaign team for the 2007 presidential election, struck a confident tone in his New Year's remarks last week.

"Politicians now copy entire sections of our discourse, which they still ranted against a few months ago," he said. "Countless personalities reacted to the crisis last November by shamelessly copying the analysis and the proposals of the National Front."

Le Pen's party appears to have benefited from the riots. National Front membership has increased by about 20 percent, to nearly 90,000, since October, a party official said.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/01/12/news/france.php

[erix]

Да, сегодня с утра по NPR неплохой сюжет был по этому поводу.

[Fracas]

Уже неделю France2 вещание через интернет не ведет. Kто знает что случилось?

[Toshka]

Уже неделю France2 вещание через интернет не ведет. Kто знает что случилось?

От вас скрываются.