ERIC CANTONA’S UNLIKELY BID to become the next president of France has been described as a publicity stunt to help improve the country’s housing crisis.
Reports in France last night said the Manchester United legend was plotting a campaign to replace Nicolas Sarkozy in the Élysée Palace and had written to the country’s mayors seeking 500 signatures in support of his nomination.
Cantona’s letter, in which he described himself as “a concerned citizen … with a keen sense of my responsibility”, was published in full by Libération newspaper, but an accompanying editorial explained that the man known as “Le King” has no intention of actually standing for office.
Instead, Cantona’s letter appears to be an effort to drum up high-profile support for a new petition created by France’s leading housing charity, the Abbé Pierre foundation.
“He isn’t looking for signatures to be a candidate for the presidency, but to pass on the message of the Abbé Pierre foundation in support of better housing policy, and to make housing, which is a priority for French people, a priority for the presidential candidates,” Libération’s deputy editor Paul Quinio told I-Tele news.
Cantona’s own website, EricCantona.fr, automatically redirects users to the Abbé Pierre petition which has already collected over a quarter of its target 400,000 signatures.
The enigmatic 45-year-old, who called for a co-ordinated run on France’s banks in December 2010, told Libération that he “chose the housing issue as it seems to me to be essential and concerns tens of millions of people. I had to act at a time when I was likely to be heard.”
“You need a spur like Cantona to give housing the place it deserves in this campaign,” Patrick Doutreligne of the Abbé Pierre foundation told AFP.
This is not the first time that Cantona has aligned himself with the work of the Abbé Pierre foundation, who argue that close to 10 million French citizens are affected in some way by the country’s housing crisis.
In November 2010, Cantona fronted the foundation’s TV campaign, appearing in ads which called for poor housing to be shown the “red card”.
YouTube Credit: fondationabbepierre
