France - Jean Sarkozy scandal

Get Sarkozy to adopt you, young Socialists tell jobless youth

Article published on the 2009-10-14 Latest update 2009-10-14 13:42 TU

Nicolas (L) and Jean Sarkozy
(Photo: Reuters)

As Nicolas Sarkozy defends himself against charges of nepotism over his 27-year-old son’s rapid political rise, the youth wing of the opposition Socialist Party has urged jobless French youth to appeal to their President to adopt them.

Four young Socialist activists appeared at the Elysée presidential palace on Wednesday to request adoption. But they were turned away by police.

The Socialists are urging people to download an adoption request from their website and then send it to their “new father” who can then “offer them a first full-time job with a decent salary”.

The satirical campaign is the latest response to proposals to appoint 27-year-old Jean Sarkozy to the head of the Epad agency, which oversees the development of La Défense business neighbourhood.

Sarkozy has hit back at critics, claiming that his son has been “thrown to the wolves”, while Jean Sarkozy took up his own defence in an interview with France 3 television.

As a councillor in the Paris suburb of Neuilly, he has worked 12 hours a day, he claimed.

"I met with constituents … I have a vocation and the vocation I chose was to engage. I engaged early, I engaged completely,” he said.

Nicolas Sarkozy’s facebook page has been hit by protesters that remind the President of his pledge in the 2007 presidential campaign that France must return to the core values of honest hard work.

A statement from the Socialist Party said “it’s high time that Nicolas Sarkozy understands that his role as President is to serve the people and not to serve his interests and those of his close ones”.

The youth unemployment rate in France stands at 24 per cent, among the highest in Europe.