The Progressive Unionist leader Billy Hutchinson says the forum isn't hisidea, but he hopes it might create a connection between the politicians and the people on the streets.
Mr. Sarkozy "expressing the idea publicly with three weeks to go to the end of his first mandate isn't necessarily a bad idea as it puts the subject on the table without at the same time committing the French government or defining its position, " said BNP Paribas senior economist Dominique Barbet.