16/02/2010 (Agence Europe) - Jean-Pierre Audy, who heads the UMP delegation at the European Parliament (EPP Group) has severely criticised the leader of the EP Liberal Group (ALDE), Guy Verhofstadt, for his recent comments on the debate relating to national identity in France (in a carte blanche published in Le Monde on 12 February, Verhofstadt had criticised the debate and said “there is something rotten in the French Republic”). Audy refutes these words that he finds are “incredibly violent and almost insulting” and deplores that the former Belgian prime minister should be “involved in a debate that should only come under the sovereignty of the French”. “Although I understand the sense of your conviction, you fear the development of national identities is an obstacle to European construction. I fully share your point of view on the adverse aspects of excessive nationalism which have always been at the origin of many ideological, political and military upheavals in Europe. However, unlike you, I am convinced that the national identity of member states, far from being a threat, is a force for the wellbeing of the peoples that make up the Union”, Audy states in an open letter diffused on 16 February. (H.B./transl.jl)