The uproar started a in the first week of September when French Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux was introduced in a political meeting to a young UMP (President Sarkozy's right wing party) sympathizer and North-African Muslim.
When the young man was introduced to the minister as "our little Arab," a mobile phone captured Hortefeux answering, "We always need one. Having one like this is OK, problems arise when they are many."
Attacked by political opponents for his allegedly racist statements, Hortefeux struck back on Sept. 15 in the French Parliament. To Socialist Party (PS) representatives who asked for his resignation, he answered, "Where are your explanations when a book denounces massive fraud [in PS internal elections]. Isn't fraud opposed to ethics? Ethics are not about assassination through the press."
"I expressed that I did regret this violent, unfair, and futile polemic. I expressed regrets that some people may have been harmed in their beliefs because of a wrong interpretation [of my words]," said Hortefeux on Sept. 14, after President Sarkozy criticized him for being "overly casual" in his behavior.
Brice Hortefeux had already been criticized for a comparably ambiguous statement. In January 2009, when State Secretary Fadela Amara joined the Interior Ministry, Hortefeux stated that Amara was "a fellow citizen, which is not necessarily obvious."
After listening to Hortefeux's explanantions, Mohammed Moussaoui, president of the French Muslim Faith Counsel (CFCM), told Europe 1 radio that the regrets expressed by Hortefeux were basically "sufficient." As did the League against Racism and Anti-Semitism (LICRA), which said the polemic was now over.
This is, however, not the opinion of another anti-racist association, the Movement Against Racism and for Friendship of People (MRAP), which announced it will sue the interior minister.
"These words are deeply humiliating and they attack the dignity of Arabic people," said an MRAP spokesperson to Le Nouvel Observateur newspaper. The minister "has acted in favor of racial discrimination, thereby strengthening racist thinking, an act punishable by law."
Government representatives quickly acted in defense of Hortefeux, as did the young North African UMP sympathizer himself. "Hortefeux is a real humanist, molded by social Catholicism. He is nothing like a racist," Eric Besson, minister of immigration, told Europe 1 radio.
UMP General Secretary Xavier Bertrand went even further by accusing Left-wing parties of trying to create a media diversion, at a time when a newly published book accuses the Socialist Party having manipulated its internal elections.
While the interior minister is likely to face little consequences for his comments, the question remains as to what standards the so-called "First cop of France" should follow when expressing views or attempting to be humorous.