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The French Government got itself in a real fix when it launched the debate on the subject of French identity.

French citizens were asked their opinion on what it meant to be French, what were the indications of a gallic identity. The risk was that it would turn into a debate about immigration and, in many ways, it has.

Many of the opinions expressed in an internet forum created by the French Government have displayed a racist tone. All the prejudices that French people have about Muslims could be read there. When Sarkozy launched the debate, he did so with the intention of winning over the more rightwing element of the electorate. However, the issue threatened to get out of hand and could have ended up benefiting the National Front, the extreme right, more than the President''s own party.

The end of March will see regional elections in France and, to avoid the matter becoming one of the central themes of its campaign, the French Government, as announced by its Prime Minister François Fillon, has already drawn various conclusions from the debate and temporarily left it to one side.

The Government is to put in practice a number of measures to "foster French pride". Some are symbolic, such as raising the French flag at schools and having the children sing ''La Marseillaise'' once a year. But others could pose a problem for immigrants, such as a requirement to demonstrate a certain level of French and signing a contract of rights and obligations.

In other European countries, similar measures are already being adopted. Germany and Great Britain, for example, demand a certain level of language proficiency, and in Italy measures will go further and introduce a sort of "points card" for immigrants; if certain prerequisites are not fulfilled points are deducted and they could end up being expelled from the country.