France's woes are of its own making

Jacques Chirac has admitted that France's nights of urban violence had revealed a "profound malaise" in society. The French president seems to be a victim of malaise himself. After more than two weeks of unrest, the worst France has witnessed since 1968, the French president's television appearance was his first formal address to the nation on the topic.

The European Union also seems to be displaying worrying symptoms. The EU president Manuel Barroso has proposed giving France 50 million euros (Dh214 million) to help riot-hit towns recover. Barroso regards the riots as a European issue. They are not. This does not mean to say that other European countries may not experience rioting youths. But these riots in France today are very much a consequence of the French republic's ineptitude in dealing with immigrants and their children, which goes back to at least the influx during and after Algeria's struggle for independence.

The amount proposed, 50 million euros, is not much in the context of the damage inflicted. For example, The French Federation of Insurance Companies gave a preliminary estimate of the bill for the damage at 200 million euros (Dh857 million) to vehicles. That does not take into account the money needed to revitalise the rundown sink estates whose squalor and despair added to a sense of desolation. But that is not the point.

France is not a poor country. Its economy may be stuttering but it is still wealthy. Chirac's government has made it a point to drastically cut back on social services so why should European taxpayers cough up now to help pump money into the estates when Paris has shown a reluctance to do just that? France has problems and the French government has an opportunity to deal progressively with the alienation that caused such anger. Going cap in hand to Europe is not a good omen.