The debate over Jean Sarkozy's new job continues

Reactions are coming thick and fast to the news last week that Jean Sarkozy, the son of the French president, is in line for a top job at l'Etablissement public d'aménagement du quartier d'affaires de la Défense (Epad), the development agency for business district of La Defense on the outskirts of Paris.

The media has gone into a near frenzy reporting the different responses there have been since the retiring incumbent, Patrick Devedjian, made the announcement.

Politicians from the opposition Socialist party have criticised the nomination, as have some from the right of the political spectrum.

And an online petition has already gathered 40,000 signatures calling for him not to accept the job.

The main sticking points seem to be his age - Sarkozy is just 23 - his (lack of) experience and of course the fact that he's the son of the French president.

"We need someone (in the post) who has a good grasp of the law," said the former Socialist party prime minister Laurent Fabius, more than a little ironically.

"Mr Sarkozy is in his second year (at University) studying law, which is obviously a very strong argument in his favour!"

There are of course also the thinly-disguised inferences of nepotism and the fact that carrying the same name as the French president has helped Sarkozy's rise politically at such a young age.

"Who wouldn't be shocked by the way in which this has been done?" said the Socialist party's 2007 presidential candidate, Ségolène Royal.

"If he didn't have the name he has, would he be where he is today?"

Meanwhile members of the ruling centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) of which Sarkozy is a member have come to his defence, saying that the whole political polemic (of which the French seem often seem so fond) and especially the accusations that Sarkozy is benefitting from being the "son of" is nothing more than an attack whipped up by the Left.

"It's an election, a competition and there's no need to create such a polemic," the prime minister, François Fillon, said on national radio on Monday morning referring to the fact that Sarkozy is also an elected local councillor in the Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine where his father was once mayor.

"What matters is to have been elected at the ballot box as we've also seen for the son of François Mitterrand (Gilbert) or the daughter of Jacques Delors (Martine Aubry)," he added.

Not everyone to the right of the political spectrum in France agrees though.

Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, head of Debout la République (Arise the Republic, DLR) thinks the appointment is a mistake and sends out the wrong message to the public at large.

"It's unacceptable that a son of the French president, no matter what his qualities, should head up one of Europe's major business districts which is bound to see the construction of more office space," he said.

"And of course we have to question his ability as a 23-year-old student to occupy such a position".

And what of the main protagonist in all of this?

Well until now he had remained silent on the subject. But on Tuesday he told the national daily Le Parisien/Aujourd'hui en France that he felt more than capable of doing the job and had quickly become used to the dealing with any opposition.

"Ever since I started in politics I've been the object of criticism," he said.

"But I'm very determined very motivated and I just see all the attacks the Left are trying to launch my way," he added.

"Whatever I do, I'll be criticised."