Nazi attack sparks furore in French parliament

Published on Wednesday 8 February 2012 00:00

A FRENCH socialist MP yesterday accused the interior minister of flirting with Nazism.

Serge Letchimy, from Martinique, attacked minister Claude Gueant over comments made at the weekend that suggest some civilisations are worth more than other, widely seen as a criticism of Islamic society’s from a French chauvinist perspective.

The opposition claim Mr Gueant’s remarks are part of a strategy by president Nicolas Sarkozy to woo far-right voters ahead of two-round presidential elections in April and May.

Yesterday’s session of government questions had to be suspended after members of Mr Sarkozy’s conservative UMP party began walking out

Mr Letchimy said Mr Gueant is “day by day leading us back to these European ideologies that gave birth to concentration camps”. After a loud protests interrupted him, he added: “Mr Gueant, the Nazi regime, which was so concerned about purity, was that a civilisation?”

Speaking later, Mr Letchimy said “as the son of a slave, I cannot accept this kind of phrase” such that used by Mr Gueant.

Conservative premier François Fillon called Mr Letchimy’s comment “an indecent provocation”. Mr Gueant said that comments to a right-wing youth organisation on the hierarchy of civilisations were merely “good sense”.