Next week's presidential elections will confirm what many Europeans fear, that France is moving inexorably to the right

 

Nicolas Sarkozy, the front runner for the French presidency, has suggested that paedophilia is an incurable genetic disposition, that rioting Arab youths are scum and that an Orwellian sounding ministry for immigration and national identity is a good idea. Segolene Royal, his socialist challenger, wants the French to celebrate family, work and the flag. And on Friday, a suppressed official poll suggested that the racist Jean-Marie le Pen, who once described the Holocaust as a detail of history, will come second in next week's presidential ballot. He will be entitled to a run-off against Sarkozy, a repeat of the election he fought five years ago against Jacques Chirac and a sign that liberal and left forces in France are being routed.

 

It is an unhappy panorama. But there is little doubt that 30 years of sky-high unemployment, urban decay and a mounting sense that France is in incurable decline have begun to move this great Enlightenment country emphatically to the right. Even if the meltdown scenario of le Pen coming second in the first round of voting is avoided, its clear that a sullen, truculent mood has descended on France, the country above any other in Europe that has a track record of airing European-wide trends.

Which is why the first round of France's presidential elections next Sunday is so important. The vicious circle in which France is trapped - unemployment spreading, poor morale begetting more poor morale - clearly needs to be broken. Nobody disagrees that there must be a break with the old ways of doing things. And that, in turn, means looking to an outsider to lead the change. Just what that change might be is less clear.

 

i hear ya brian. That fascist le Pen needs to be stopped. I hope he gets knocked out in the first round this time and he's not used as a 'protest vote' like he was last time against Chiraque. It doesn't bode well for the U.K either,i swear these fascist bast*rds are in collusion with each other and i predict record increases in votes for the BNP at our next general election. We need to unite against these Nazis and stop this sickness spreading throughout Europe.