France: Algerian 'wrong type' to head anti-discrimination body
A French politician of Algerian origin “is the wrong type of person” to head the country’s top anti-discrimination body, a senior member of the ruling UMP party said Wednesday, claiming it would be better to have someone “of French stock.”
Gérard Longuet told France Info radio that French-born Malek Boutih, one of the nominees to run anti-discrimination body HALDE, was “the wrong type of person.”
Longuet, who is the UMP leader in the French Senate, said in the interview he preferred the HALDE's outgoing president, former Renault boss Bernard Schweitzer.
“Schweitzer comes from the old Protestant bourgeoisie,” said Longuet. “He’s perfect.”
Justifying his stance against Boutih, a Socialist and former head of anti-racism body SOS Racisme, Longuet said: “It would be better that the position be held by someone of traditional French stock who would feel responsible for welcoming all our [diverse] French compatriots.
“If you put someone in this position who is symbolically ‘other’, there is a risk of getting it wrong.”
Unsurprisingly, and with regional elections beginning on Sunday, the opposition Socialist Party has taken extreme umbrage.
The party's deputy leader Harlem Désir said he was “scandalised” and called on the UMP to “condemn Longuet’s comments and make a public apology to Boutih.”
“This is much more than a simple blunder,” he added. “This is the expression of a racial philosophy which is totally at odds with modern France, a nation built on republican principles of equality between all citizens regardless of their origins.”
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Source: France24 (English)
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