French proposal may erase ancient regions from map

Balladur said in an interview on Wednesday with <> that reform was needed, and the changes were necessary with an impending recession.

“Having a local system based on about 15 regions with extended economic powers ... would contribute to this dynamism,” he said.

That regional tongue, Picard, is a major unifying factor, along with gastronomic specialities such as gateau battu and pistachio duck pate. The original language behind the chti patois which is spoken in the Nord-Pas de Calais and has become famous in France thanks to a blockbuster film, is now undergoing something of a revival. For people like Rose-Auvet who have worked for decades on shows which say mi instead of moi and <> instead of bonbon (sweet), it is ironic that a renaissance is occurring just as its mother region faces eradication.

Others have questioned the motives of Sarkozy and his right-wing administration. Describing the proposed carve-up as the return of the <>, the Communist newspaper <> said it was reminiscent of an age when the ruling monarch would decide the fate of others in an arbitrary and self-serving fashion.