How appropriate was Laurent Delahousse's July 14 Islam question to François Hollande

July 14, aka Bastille Day, came and went. France's celebratory show of military might made its collective way along "la plus belle avenue du monde", every major flippin' TV channel covered the it - live, and what ho!

The French president François Hollande (once again) broke an election promise (don't gasp in surprise).

Remember how during the presidential election campaign Hollande had said that, if elected, he wouldn't follow the example of his predecessors by conducting interviews at the Elysée palace?

Well....he had changed his mind - obviously.

François Hollande (screenshot from Huffington Post video on DailyMotion)

Weekend anchors Claire Chazal (TF1) and Laurent Delahousse (France 2) were the lucky couple invited along to pose questions on:

**shale gas (there won't be any exploration during his presidency apparently),

**taxes (he'll decide next year whether there need to be increases but wants to keep them to a minimum),

**the economy ("It's recovering!" Please don't splutter and snort in contempt as you read that...Hollande actually said it),

**a possible Sarkozy return (Hollande is "cool" about it - that's paraphrasing what he said),

**the Greens (the political party - not the type you might not want to eat) and their place in government, pensions, the Bernard Tapie affair (here's a challenge...try to explain what that's all about Twitter style) and all the usual subjects you might expect to be of interest to viewers.

It was a veritable flood of questions and follow-ups from both Delahousse and Chazal as the two battled for Hollande's attention during 35 minutes and Hollande, the poor guy, resembled a spectator at a tennis match with his head swinging from side to side, seemingly unsure as to whom he should direct his replies.

Chazal et Delahousse font" tourner la tête" de... par LeHuffPost

And then, just as it was coming towards the end, Delahousse slipped in a question that has angered some.

Hollande had just finished explaining how dangerous and ill thought-out he believed the policies of the far-right Front National's leader Marine Le Pen to be when Delahousse had his "inspirational" moment described by political journalist Bruno Roger-Petit in the Nouvel Observateur as being without any real substance and pandering to an agenda set by the Front National.

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"During your recent visit to Tunisia, you said something very important in that 'France knows that Islam and democracy are compatible," began Delahousse.

"That was obviously a message aimed at Tunisians. But I wanted to ask you a question. In France there are five to six million Moslems and a third of them say they're practising. If one day, an Islamist party, a fundamentalist one, were created in France, what would be your reaction?"



Hollande's answer was a simple one, reiterating what he had said in his speech in Tunisia that "no religion was inconsistent with democracy" and that France "remained a secular state".

But Delahousse's question received a furious response from Socialist parliamentarian Pouria Amirshahi.

"This is an issue worthy of the propaganda of the far right," he said.

"It was pitiful especially as a question for a July 14 interview and just feeds into irrational fears," he continued.

"At best it was ridiculous and at worst it was one more example of those who try to have us believe France is being 'invaded'."

While Amirshahi's reaction might appear virulent, he surely has a point.

Look at the words use by Chazal as she welcomed viewers and outlined to Hollande what subjects would be covered right before the interview began.

"We will ask you questions on issues that of course concern the French: unemployment, growth, the economic crisis ... "

And Roger-Petit pointed out a certain inconsistency in Delahousse's "science fiction" question.

"How can one of the leading and most acclaimed French journalists put such a question to the president," he wrote.

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"How can he ask him something that is a matter of 'science fiction' (abour the speculative creation of a fundamentalist Islamist political party in France) at the expense of "reality" (the creation of a political extremist Catholic party for the next European elections)?

France's European minister Laurent Wauquiez's "17-member" Schengen howler

Once again it appears as though a French minister hasn't quite got a grasp of the essentials of the job.

This time around it's the minister for European affairs, Laurent Wauquiez - who clearly needs to brush up his knowledge on the portfolio for which he is responsible...Europe.

Laurent Wauquiez (screenshot from BFM TV interview)

When asked during a television interview how many countries belonged to Schengen, the 36-year-old managed to make a complete mess of his answer - and look a fool in the process.

Schengen is the treaty which "abolishes internal borders, enabling passport-free movement between a large number of European countries" and it has been in the news a lot recently

On Tuesday the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, jointly requested that it be revised to deal with what they see as an overwhelming number of North Africans (Tunisians) arriving in Europe.

Appearing on BFM TV's early morning show Bourdin Direct on Wednesday, Wauquiez was slipped a question by the journalist Christophe Jakubyszyn which was seemed almost aimed at tripping him up.

And Wauquiez duly obliged.

Laurent Wauquiez and Christophe Jakubyszyn (screenshot from BFM TV interview)

"You're the minister for European affairs," Jakubyszyn said to Wauquiez in that style French journalists seem to love so much, almost assuming their guest have forgotten what daytime job they held.

"How many countries are there in Schengen?"

"17," replied Wauquiez without a moment's hesitation

"22," was Jakubyszyn's immediate response.

"There are four that aren't members of the European Union but are part of Schengen; Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein."

All right so Wauquiez's mistake is perhaps understandable as it's easy to confuse the 27-strong EU with Schengen.

But not all members of the EU have signed up to Schengen.

And just to complicate matters a little more, as Jakubyszyn pointed out, not all Schengen signatories are EU members.

So perhaps Wauquiez could be forgiven - except that he IS minister for European affairs, and really should know these things.

There again perhaps Jakubyszyn's reply wasn't exactly clear either.

22 refers to the number of EU countries that are part of Schengen, with three other non-EU countries - Iceland, Norway and Switzerland - also fully fledged and Liechtenstein "sort-of-fully-fledged" to the area (this is Europe where NOTHING is ever as clear as it could be).

Take a look at the European Commission Home Affairs site and you'll discover just how many countries officially belong to Schengen.

Then go away and have a very stiff drink.



Wauquiez had the good manners to thank Jakubyszyn for correcting him once the interview had finished.

Boris Boillon hangs on as France's ambassador to Tunisia - but for how long?

Views are split as to whether it could soon be curtains for France's man in Tunisia, Boris Bouillon.

Even though rumours just won't go away that the man dubbed "Sarkoboy" by some in the French media could soon be on his way home, he's still in the job.

And that could be down to Jean-David Levitte, a high-ranking French diplomat and sherpa, or the civil servant who undertakes the preparatory political work prior to summits, to the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy.

Speculation that Boillon would be returning to France surfaced at the beginning of April with a report in France Soir that a replacement had been found for the 41-year-old.

Yves Marek, a career diplomat and "native son" would soon be taking over, the paper assured its readers.

According to the French weekly news magazine Nouvel Observateur, Marek was an "astute choice" to succeed Boillon who had come in for plenty of criticism - not least from those in his new host country - for making as much of a mess of his start to his new post as the French had in their mishandling of Tunisia's "Jasmine revolution".

But as the end of April nears, Boillon is still in his job and, as far as Nouvel Observateur is concerned, that's largely down to the support of Levitte.

Boillon made a mess of things almost immediately after touching down in Tunisia.

During his very first press conference, he appeared dismissive and aggressive towards one journalist and a video of the encounter soon made its way on to the Net.

Not surprisingly it didn't go down well with Tunisians and even though Boillon appeared on national television a day later to apologise, many wanted him out.

(screenshot from Facebook page Boris Boillon Degage)

A Facebook campaign was launched calling for Boillon to be replaced and an online petition was started urging France to appoint another Ambassador who would "meet more closely the expectations of Tunisians as they wrote a new page in their history."

Remember, this is in a country which used social networking tools so effectively to rally support during the revolution.

Not great news then for Boillon and he rather kept his head down during the visit of two members of the French government, the finance minister, Christine Lagarde, and the European affairs minister, Laurent Wauquiez, a couple of weeks later.

Marek's name began circulating as the most likely successor. The 44-year-old's diplomatic credentials were impeccable and he was seen by many Tunisian Internauts as a child of the country's resistance to the former leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.

But that was also his undoing, according to Nouvel Observateur, because he was suspected of having been too much in favour of regime change during the Jasmine revolution, and besides, Levitte wanted to protect Boillon - his protégé.

The one person who perhaps could have given Tunisians what they seemed to want more than anything - Boillon out and Marek in - suggested Nouvel Observateur, was the French foreign minister Alain Juppé.

Just before Easter he was on official business in Tunisia to announce €350 million in aid to help, as TF1 reported, "rebuild a relationship undermined by the France's diplomatic faux pas and mishandling of the events during Tunisia's 'Jasmine revolution'."

It could also have been a golden opportunity to announce a change at the embassy, but it didn't happen.

As far as Nouvel Observateur is concerned that's partly because Juppé has inherited staff and advisors from his predecessor in office, Michèle Alliot-Marie, and he is also being "held hostage by a diplomatic service" unwilling to admit it misjudged the Jasmine revolution in the first place and as a consequence unable to come to terms with its mistakes.

So Boillon is to stay and Marek's services will be deployed elsewhere?

Well all is not lost for those in Tunisia who would like to see Sarkoboy sent home.

On Monday BFM TV ran a report once again suggesting France considered his continued presence in Tunisia could be too much of an embarrassment.

French diplomacy - "amateur, impulsive and lacking coherence "

Those were the words used to describe France's foreign policy and in particular its diplomacy, under its president Nicolas Sarkozy.

They came in an open letter published on Wednesday in the national daily, Le Monde from the Marly group, a collection of French diplomats, retired and serving, of all political persuasions, who were anonymously but collectively airing their concerns.

French foreign affairs and its diplomacy, certainly seem to have come in for a fair bit of scrutiny recently - and this week's events have perhaps only highlighted how much.

Take for example the first visit of a French government minister to Tunisia since that country's Jasmine revolution.

French foreign minister, Michèle Alliot-Marie

In fact there wasn't just one minister but two; Christine Lagarde, the finance minister, and Laurent Wauquiez, the minister for European affairs.

Notice anything odd...apart from the fact that France saw in necessary to send a minister responsible for Europe to a country in North Africa?

Yep, the absence of the foreign minister, Michèle Alliot-Marie (MAM) who had been dispatched to Brazil out of harm's way.

She, MAM, justified her visit to South America as being more "pragmatic".

"The visit was planned over a month ago and Brazil is a country with which we have a very important relationship," she is reported to have said in an informal conversation in the capital Brasilia.

Of course foreign ministers cannot change plans at the last minute to react to changing situations, and her absence in Tunisia had nothing whatsoever to do with the ongoing controversy there has been over her holidays there earlier this year.

So it was left to Lagarde and Wauquiez to build bridges with the finance minister telling journalists that she was confident the relationship between the two countries had not been harmed and Wauquiez mooting the idea of economic aid in the form of a "Marshall plan for Tunisia"

"We've come, not to lecture but to listen to their needs," he said, clearly aware of the fact that there are over 1,200 subsidiaries of French companies in Tunisia and there are interests to be protected.

Strangely silent and hovering in the background was the recently appointed ambassador, Boris Boillon.

He seemed almost, as some commentators back home in France observed, to be paying penance for the insulting remarks he had made to a journalist last week and which resulted in protests calling for his resignation and a subsequent very public apology on national television.

"Sarko boy" was on his best behaviour. Perhaps he had wind of an old can of worms that had been reopened in the form of an appearance he had made on the early evening news magazine Le Grand Journal on Canal + television last November.


Boillon défend Kadhafi (C+)
envoyé par LePostfr. - L'info video en direct.

During the interview Boillon had defended Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, saying he had been a terrorist but wasn't any longer.

"We all make mistakes in life," he said. "And we all have the right to another chance," he said after admitting that Gaddafi had referred to him as "his son".

Boris Boillon (screenshot from Le Grand Journal)

Yes old news - well not so old - but certainly words that seem misplaced with hindsight.

To top it all off was the publication on Wednesday in Le Monde of that open letter from the Marly grop.

"Amateur, impulsive, obsessed with the media and a lack of coherence" were the main criticisms aimed at the current state of affairs.

"Our foreign policy is one of improvisation often undertaken with respect to domestic political considerations," they wrote.

A bold move as far as the weekly news magazine L'Express was concerned and one "which coming from a group of people known for their discretion, indicated how worrying the situation was."

France's ambassador to Tunisia, Boris "Sarko boy" Boillon, apologises for his insulting behaviour

It can't be easy starting a new job, upsetting your host country, and then having to go on national television to issue an apology.

But that's exactly what has happened over the past week to France's new ambassador to Tunisia, Boris Boillon.

Boris Boillon (screenshot from BFMTV report)

During his first press conference since taking up his post on February 16, "Sarko boy", as Boillon is dubbed by some of the French media, insulted a journalist.

His style during the conference was friendly and relaxed to begin with, but it changed when faced with questions about France's reaction when the Jasmine revolution began.

He was dismissive and aggressive in both French and Arabic towards one journalist and for many (both in France and Tunisia) it was behaviour reminiscent of his mentor, the French president Nicolas Sarkozy.



Inevitably perhaps it didn't go down well with Tunisians.

A video of the meeting soon made it on to the Net and the people who had so effectively used social networking sites to topple the former leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali resorted to the same tactics to call for protests and his resignation outside the French embassy in Tunis on Friday.

A day later it was "damage control" from Boillon who went on national television to apologise.

"I say I am sorry, I regret my words, I was stupid," Boillon said.

"I ask for the forgiveness of all Tunisians."

After Sarkozy admitted that the French government had "misjudged" the strength of popular feeling which brought about the downfall of Ben Ali, he replaced the former ambassador, Pierre Menat, with Boillon.

His remit, as described by the weekly news magazine L'Express was to "reconnect with the Tunisian society, after decades of French complacency towards a hated regime."

And the French government spokesman, François Baroin, said of Boillon when the appointment was announced that, "He has all the natural sensitivity to match the new era now in Franco-Tunisian relations."

Last week's incident and the follow-up apology was not exactly the most auspicious of starts to the job of building bridges for the 41-year-old who has already completed a stint as France's Man in Baghdad and is the country's youngest serving ambassador.

Perhaps he'll now be discouraged from trying too hard to fashion himself in the mould of Sarkozy.

But somehow, for the moment, he looks like the most undiplomatic of diplomats - and has had a photo on his personal page of the French social networking site Copains d'avant to prove it: one which shows him wearing only in a pair of trunks...and a smile.

MAM voyage - a spoof on French foreign minister's "free" travels

Amid all the recent controversy surrounding the travel arrangements of the French foreign minister, Michèle Alliot-Marie, a spoof agency has gone online offering trips to dream destinations at truly unbelievable prices: in fact no price at all.

MAM-voyage.com apparently has some unreal bargains on its books.



Tabarka in Tunisia is knocked down from €1,299 to €0. And a similar great offer for Abou Simbel in Egypt sees prices slashed from €1,899 to €0.

Further bargains include Iran, Côte d'Ivoire and Burma - all at the ridiculously giveaway prices of...well you probably get the idea.

There's a testimonial from (among others) Michèle M. who says, "We had a fabulous time and thank you once again for the free upgrade during our stopover in Tunis."

And François F. (a nod to the French prime minister François Fillion who admitted having "accepted the hospitality" of former Eyptian president Hosni Mubarak while on holiday on the Nile at the New Year) writes, "Luxor, the Valley of the Kings, the magnificence of the Nile ... with MAM it's more than a trip. It's a state of mind"

The whole spoof is topped off with contact details which will put you in touch with the French foreign ministry.

The name MAM-voyage is, of course, a parody of the site of the French tour operator FRAM and at the same time a reference to Alliot-Marie, who is more commonly known in France as MAM.

And it perhaps comes as a welcome, light-hearted relief after the recent controversy surrounding one of France's most experienced and longest-serving government ministers.

MAM (the foreign minister that is) has faced opposition calls to resign ever since it was revealed that she used a private jet while on holiday with her partner Patrick Ollier, who is also a government minister, in Tunisia last December at the beginning of the country's uprising.

The 'plane the couple used was owned by a businessman, Aziz Miled who, it was alleged, had been close to the former Tunisian president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.

Although she has since admitted that she "regretted her decision to accept the free flight", MAM has also defended Miled saying he had been a longtime friend and a "victim rather than an ally of Ben Ali."

Calls for her resignation have been renewed this week ever since the satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaîné revealed that MAM and Ollier weren't alone in Tunisia.

They were joined by Alliot-Marie's elderly parents who reportedly signed a property deal with Miled.

It was a deal which 92-year-old Bernard Marie, the foreign minister's father, told France 24 he had been advised to do because it "would be an investment in 2012."

Facing parliamentarians on Wednesday in the National Assembly, MAM hit back at those calling for her resignation and criticised the latest turn of events.

"You keep repeating lies in the hope that they'll turn into the truth," she said, stressing that the after trying to find something with which to tarnish her reputation, opponents had now decided to focus their attention on her parents.

"Have they done anything illegal? No. This campaign is shameful," she said.

"I just want to say quite simply how objectionable it is that you try to use my parents to attack me politically."

French TV creates new 'ministers of missionaries" for Tunisia

Houssine Dimassi and Abdeljelil Bedoui might not be names you recognise.

They're both Tunisians and were supposed to be members of the country's new unity government.

But they resigned, along with a fellow member of the Union générale tunisienne du travail (General Union of Tunisian Workers, UGTT) Anouar Ben Gueddour before the first cabinet meeting.

News outlets around the world of course reported their resignation, the reasons behind their decision and the possible impact it would have on Mohammed Ghannouchi's attempts to guide the country through the initial post-Ben Ali period.

French public television, France 2, carried a story on the men in its prime time news programme on Tuesday evening.

And it even kindly informed viewers of the jobs the men would not be filling; Dimassi as labour minister, Ben Gueddour as junior transport minister and Bedoui as minister without portfolio.

Except it didn't quite turn out that way as the names and positions flashed up at the bottom of viewers' screens.

Instead all three suddenly acquired rather an extraordinary title - that of "minister of missionaries" (ministre des missionnaires) rather than "minister who had resigned" (ministre démissionnaire).


Anchor David Pujadas was understandably not amused an, after evidently being told of the mistake through his earpiece, stressed at the end of the report that the men "had resigned."

France 2 meanwhile hurriedly did the necessary editing for its online rebroadcast.

Too late though as screenshots were already circulating on the Net.

French "help" for Ben Ali stuck at Paris airport

Equipment to "maintain law and order" including police uniforms and tear gas, destined to be delivered to Tunisia before the fall of its former president, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali has been stuck at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport since last Friday.

But there are conflicting explanations as to why it was never dispatched.

On Wednesday the French government's official spokesman, François Baroin, confirmed that an order, placed by the former Tunisian president with a private company in France, had been prevented from leaving Paris shortly before his fall from power.

"Ben Ali placed an order directly with the company supplying the equipment," he said.

"Customs officials did their job correctly and it never left," he added without, as the weekly news magazine Nouvel Observateur pointed out, wanting to elaborate on what role (if any) the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, had played in the decision.

As far as the French website Rue89 is concerned the load, containing as much as seven tonnes of tear gas, was held up because of "technical rather than political" problems.

Tear gas for Tunisia (screenshot from Rue89 video)

Customs officials authorised the export of the equipment, it says, but red tape and in particular the "need for it to be inspected" got in the way.

The journalist Jean-Dominique Merchet, who specialises in military and defence topics, offers up a different explanation though.

On his blog for the magazine Marianne, Merchet wrote that the 'plane carrying the cargo was due to leave late on Friday morning but customs officials "suddenly became very picky."

Soon afterwards, according to Merchet, the head of Sofexi, the group supplying the equipment, received a call from the "highest authority at the Elysée informing him that delivery was out of the question."

Such contradictory explanations are perhaps only to be expected from a country which the BBC described as having been "in a fluster over the Tunisian crisis"; a reaction that still seems to prevail perhaps as illustrated by Rue89's unsuccessful attempts to discover what will now happen to the equipment held at Roissy.

When it contacted the ministry of defence it was referred to the interior ministry, which then referred it to the Elysée which in turn referred it to the ministry of foreign affairs, from which it is still waiting for a reply...



Du gaz lacrymogène bloqué à Roissy
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French bride requests annulment moments after marriage

"I do" and then "I don't" barely 10 minutes later was very much the pattern of events for a newly-wed bride in France last weekend.

The wedding and almost immediate request for an annulment happened in the city of Tours in central France.

The evidently not-so-happy couple, both aged 25, were married in a civil ceremony at the city hall in front of the deputy mayor, François Lafourcade.

Nothing untoward seemed to mark the short ceremony, according to a report carried in the regional newspaper, La Nouvelle République, and Lafourcade said that everything appeared to proceed as expected.

Perhaps he should have known better.

"I had the feeling that something wasn't quite right, but everything seemed normal with nothing really missing; there were flowers, the rings, and the witnesses," he told the newspaper.

"I just posed the required questions and the bride answered 'yes' in a somewhat irritated," he continued.

"Afterwards the couple and their families left the room and I stayed behind with a couple of officials and just as I was getting ready to leave the bride returned and asked me to annul the whole thing on the spot."

So what had happened in such a short space of time to make the one half of the barely-wed couple change her mind?

Well according to some people present interviewed by the newspaper, once the families had made their way outside the building, the two mothers-in-law started arguing (no jokes please) and the tone escalated to such an extent that the police were called.

It was then that the young woman returned to deputy mayor to make her request, but was informed that she would have to make an official application to the public prosecutor if she really wanted the marriage to be annulled.

But there is perhaps more to the story than has appeared so far, as the journalist, Paul Wermus explained after digging a little deeper into what had happened for Laurent Ruquier, the host of an afternoon programme on national radio.

"The woman comes from the suburbs of Paris and the man is originally from Tunisia," said Wermus.

"All the signs are that it might have been an arranged marriage and the wife wasn't necessarily getting married of her own free will," he continued.

"The case is now with the public prosecutors office to determine whether there is in fact a case for annulment."

One of the grounds given in the French civil code for allowing a marriage to be declared invalid is if it can be proven that the "contract was entered into without the free consent of both spouses."

Cathy Sarraï - the death of the French Super Nanny

Tributes have been rolling in thick and fast after the death was announced on Wednesday of Cathy Sarraï.

Don't worry if you've never heard of her. The name - until this week - probably wasn't familiar to most French.

But her face was known to millions as she was the woman who shot to fame as the country's Super Nanny in the television programme of the same name.

Just hours after the announcement of her death, tributes sprung up all over the Net from those she had helped and others who had simply been moved by the programme in which she had appeared.

A rap group posted a hommage on YouTube and M6, the channel which broadcast the show in which Sarraï appeared, said it would be airing a special programme this coming weekend dedicated to her.



A reality TV programme based on the British equivalent and successfully exported around the world, the French version of Super Nanny began in 2005 and featured "Cathy" as she was better knwn helping parents cope with children who were "out of control".

With her trademark heavy-rimmed rectangular glasses, tailored black uniform and hair severely tied back in a bun, Sarraï could have seemed almost a caricature of the role she filled in first observing and then helping parents put in place a set or rules that would help them handle otherwise seemingly unmanageable children.

But read through many of the comments left on sites after the announcement of her death was made public, and it becomes clear that a lot of viewers, families she had helped and headline writers saw much more in the role she personified than a simple disciplinarian.

"A national icon" is how the weekly news magazine, L'Express, led its story. "Sadness on Twitter," reported the weekly celebrity magazine, Voici and radio broadcaster Jean-Marc Morandini devoted a portion of his morning show taking calls from listeners who wanted to pay tribute to her.

Born Kalthoum Sarraï in Tunis on September 25, 1962, Sarraï was one of seven children.

She was engaged at the age of 14, married at 16 and after arriving in France in 1979 gave birth to three children.

Sarraï did a number of odd jobs before qualifying as a professional child carer and obtaining a diploma and a nursery nurse assistant, which allowed her to become a nanny.

"Mine was something of an unusual path," she wrote in her autobiography, published in 2006.

"While in Tunis I lived in the heart of the family sheltered from everything and then I came to Paris and leapt into the unknown," she continued.

"In France I had to learn everything: the language, customs, my job."

Her big break came in 2005 when she was introduced to millions of television viewers as "Cathy" the nation's Super Nanny, a role she made her own over the next four years.

Cathy Sarraï died on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday aged 47 after a long battle against lung cancer.

Platini speaks out over jeering of French national anthem

The controversy rumbles on here in France over what action - if any - should be taken when there's whistling or jeering during the singing of the French national anthem before an international football match.

And now the president of Uefa, and former French international, Michel Platini has weighed into the debate saying that the most recent incident on Tuesday evening had been blown entirely out of proportion.

In an interview with the national daily, Le Monde, Platini said that football was in danger of being taken hostage by politicians.

"The incident of the whistling during the singing of the anthem has become a political affair," he said.

"It has nothing to do with the sport."

Platini went on to say that it was something that had happened on numerous occasions in the past and shouldn't be interpreted as an insult against France but simply a "display against an opponent on the evening."

"When I was playing in the national team some 30 years ago, the anthem was jeered on a number of occasions both at home and abroad," he told the paper.

"At the time politicians weren't interested in football and it didn't shock anyone."

Platini's comments come four days after an international friendly between France and Tunisia at the national stadium in Paris, La Stade de France.

As Franco-Tunisian singer Lââm launched into the opening bars of la Marseillaise, large sections of visiting supporters started whistling.

There was an outcry in the national press the following day and condemnation from all sides of the political spectrum, with the prime minister, François Fillion, leading the charge and calling the incident "insulting".

A poll conducted later by CSA revealed that 80 per cent of the French agreed.

The day after the game, the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy hauled in the president of the French Football Federation, Jean-Pierre Escalettes, and afterwards it was left to the sports minister, Roselyne Bachelot, to tell journalists what the government wanted to happen in the future.

"All matches would be stopped immediately if supporters whistled during the singing of the national anthem," she said.

"Any government ministers present would leave immediately and the stadium would be cleared," she went on.

"Future friendlies between France and the country involved would be suspended for a period to be determined by the French Football Federation".

While Bachelot was undoubtedly expressing the wishes of her boss, police unions among others were quick to point out just how impractical it would be for a stadium holding 50,000 plus supporters to be cleared quickly and quietly.

But that didn't stop Escalettes from insisting that such measures were feasible and that it would be entirely possible to clear a stadium peacefully if the will was shown.

"It would be difficult but not impossible," he said.

"If the police, the football federation and the minister of sport worked hand in hand it could happen," he added.

Everyone needs to get together to sort out how to go about it should this happen in the future.

Perhaps the last word - for the moment, as there are plenty of others being spoken and written - should be left with William Gaillard, Uefa's director of communications, who reminded anyone who was listening that it was not the politicians who were in charge of the match.

"Who's going to stop the game?" he asked. "For the moment it's the referee who decides whether to call a halt to the match, not the French government."

Outrage over "shameful" whistling at France-Tunisia football match

It's not often that politicians from Left and Right agree on something, but that's pretty much the case here after last night's international football match between France and Tunisia.

There was nothing at stake in terms of qualification for the 2010 World Cup. The match was supposed to be a friendly between two countries.

But it was the whistling that accompanied the singing of the French national anthem, la Marseillaise, before the match started, that has made the headlines and turned what should have been a 90 minutes of the "beautiful game" into something definitely uglier.

The French Football Federation (FFF) must have known that there was likely to be trouble of some kind. Home games between France and north African countries seldom pass without incident.

In October 2001 against Algeria, there was jeering and whistling before the game started and a pitch invasion afterwards. And in November last year a there was a similar reaction during the playing of this country's national anthem when France played host to Morocco.

The FFF had taken measures of sorts before last night's match to try to prevent a repetition of any such occurrence.

It had invited Franco-Tunisian singers, Lââm et Amina, to sing the national anthems of the two countries and the players were asked to take to the pitch of la Stade de France hand in hand in a show of "fraternité".

But even as Lââm began with the opening line "Allons enfants de la patrie" the whistling started in the stadium.

Anyone watching from the comfort of their sitting rooms will have writhed in embarrassment, as the singer belted out the words to the very end, and all the football commentators could say when she had finished was that once again, the lack of respect shown during the singing of the French national anthem had been "completely humiliating" and there was no other words for it.

The whistling didn't stop at the singing of national anthem. For the duration of the 90 minutes it continued whenever French players - many of whom are of north African origin and some of whom of Tunisian origin - were in possession of the ball.

The commentators might have been lost for words at the time, but the day afterwards there have been plenty exchanged throughout the media.

The match, or more accurately the whistling has dominated television news. There have been reports in all the national newspapers and listeners have rung in to radio programmes to express their indignation, shame and explanations as to what had occurred and why it had happened.

Leading the debate of course have been the country's politicians, who have had a fair amount to say on the subject.

Appearing in national radio in the morning, the prime minister, François Fillon, said that the game should have been delayed immediately the whistling started.

"Organisers have to find a solution," he said. "I think that games should be interrupted when national anthems - no matter for which country - are whistled at in this way.

"It's an insult for the players and for the country."

Fillon wasn't alone in his condemnation. In a written statement, the national secretary of the Socialist party, Razzy Hammadi, agreed that the whistling had been "unacceptable".

"Even if France was for many years a political and colonial power in Tunisia, and even if the French of Tunisian origin and in general or north African origin are all too often the victims of discrimination and police harrassment, it's inappropriate and humiliating to whistle during the national anthem," he wrote.

Further to the Left, the former minister of sport and leader of the Communist party, Marie-Georges Buffet, who was present at the match said to say that she was scandalised by what had happened was to ignore the reasons behind the whistling.

"It's an expression of the sort of suffering that's going on in this country at the moment," she told national radio.

Answering calls from some politicians that the match should have been interrupted, Noël Le Graet, the vice president of the FFF said that it would have been a mistake to have stopped the match.

"It was a regrettable incident," he said. "But it's always better to play the match and to present a strong symbol."

And what did the national coach, Raymond Domenech, have to say in response to the debate raging in the French media? Very little.

His only comment when asked about the incident was that he had been "moved" by the singing of the national anthems and a "little deaf" for all the rest.

Perhaps that's not so surprising as Domenech is often the target of media ridicule especially since after guiding a talented team to an early exit in this year's Euro 2008 in Switzerland, rather than offering a mea culpa, he popped up on national television and proposed to his long time partner and sports presenter, Estelle Denis.

The team's recent loss to Austria and a weekend draw to Romania - both group qualification matches for the next World Cup in South Africa- haven't really endeared him to French football fans, but all the same he has been confirmed as the national coach until 2010.

Domenech might not have wanted to get involved in the debate, but the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, certainly did.

He hauled in the president of the FFF, Jean-Pierre Escalettes, for a lunchtime tête à tête and an explanation as to what had happened.

The outcome of that meeting as presented by the minister of sport, Roselyne Bachelot, shortly afterwards was that in future, all friendly matches in which there was "insulting whistling" during the playing or singing of the French national anthem would be stopped immediately and any government ministers present would leave the stadium.

"Furthermore," she told reporters "any future friendlies between France and the other country involved would be suspended for a period to be determined by the president of the French football federation."

The result of the game, which has been somewhat lost in the polemic, was a 3-1 win for France.

Sarkozy backtracks on human rights promise

When running for office last year, the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy vowed to include the respect for human rights as a vital part of France’s foreign policy.

Yet during his two-day state visit to Tunisia, he has not only failed to live up to that promise, but also left international and local human rights groups aghast as he went as far as to congratulate his Tunisian counterpart, Zine al Abidine Ben Ali, for the efforts he had made in improving his country’s human rights record.

It was a case of Sarkozy turning a blind eye to the facts and preferring to concentrate on Tunisia’s fight against terrorism, which he called the “true enemy of democracy.”

“I come from a continent whose recent history includes abominable tragedies,” Sarkozy said.

“ And I cannot see in whose name I have the right to start giving lessons especially to a country where I have come as a friend and where I am treated as one.”

Sarkozy went on to praise Ben Ali for the progress he had made in improving civil liberties and human rights, declaring that he was confident those efforts would be continued.

While Tunisia may well be recognised as one the north Africa’s most westernised countries, Ben Ali’s regime is constantly under fire from international groups for its abuse of human rights. And there are a few facts that Sarkozy cannot possibly have overlooked, even though he seems to have chosen to do so.

Ben Ali has been in power for over 20 years and elections are far from being free and democratic by any stretch of the imagination, with political opposition barely represented. Current estimates put the number of political prisoners in the country at around the 200 mark and opponents of the ruling regime have no access to the state run media. Human rights groups accuse the government of regularly beating and jailing opponents, accusations that it denies. It goes without saying that the press is not free

But all that seems to have escaped Sarkozy’s attention even though he declares himself to be a defender of human rights.

Once again business has won the day with the power of the chequebook proving the most persuasive argument for Sarkozy and his entourage of leading French industrialists. Deals worth billions of euros were signed by both Airbus and Alstom.

All eyes will now be on the outspoken French junior minister for human rights, Rama Yade, to see whether she will fall into line with the statements of her boss or be more critical. Yade is due to meet representatives from Tunisian human rights groups on Tuesday.

Tunisian test for Sarkozy's human rights policy

The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, begins a state visit to Tunisia on Monday during which he’ll once again be promoting French industry. He’s also expected to put the finishing touches to his pet project of a Mediterranean Union.

But there’s likely to be an uncomfortable undertone throughout the whole trip. Although human rights will not be topping the agenda, Sarkozy will face a stern test of both his stance on the issue and his recent promise not to tolerate any more controversial statements from some of his ministers

Over the years Tunisia has come in for a great deal of international condemnation for its abuse of human rights, and local non-governmental organisations are hoping the issue will be addressed during the visit.

But Sarkozy has often been accused of pursuing a foreign policy, which puts commercial interests ahead of considerations for human rights and his visit to Tunisia will probably follow a similar pattern.

He’ll be surrounded by a gaggle of leading French industrialists representing the usual suspects that regularly accompany him on foreign trips including Airbus and Alstom.

Also part of his entourage however, is Rama Yade, the junior minister for human rights.

The outspoken Yade has already embarrassed her boss on a couple of occasions. Last year she criticised the human rights record of Libyan leader Muammar Ghaddafi while he was in Paris on a buying spree – echoing the thoughts of many at the time.

And more recently there was her infamous interview with the French daily, Le Monde, in which she said Sarkozy had set a number of conditions on China before he would confirm whether he would attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic games in Beijing. She later claimed she had been misquoted.

Even though a fair amount of attention will be directed towards her and whether she keeps quiet, there’s no denying that the real purpose of the visit is trade yet again.

As well as being a consummate politician, Sarkozy is probably also one of France’s best salesmen. He’ll be looking to ease a deal with Tunisian airlines, which is looking to renew its fleet and jolly along the possibility of France exporting its expertise in nuclear technology. In the pipeline is an agreement to build a reactor for civil energy purposes along the lines of deals already struck with Libya and Algeria.

When Sarkozy meets the Tunisian president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, he’ll also be looking to finalise plans for his own pet project – the setting up of a Mediterranean Union. Planned as a forum for boosting political and economic dialogue between the 27-member European Union and North African countries, details are due to be officially unveiled in Paris on July 13 after France takes over the six-month rotating presidency of the EU.

Past evidence suggests that Sarkozy will aim to come home with an armful of contracts, but at what cost in terms of addressing the problem of Tunisia’s poor track record on human rights.

In spite of the promises he made just last week, he might once again find himself allowing Yade free rein to say what he feels, as head of state, unable to declare on the record.