French President Nicolas Sarkozy has asked Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie to review plans for a security database denounced by civil liberties campaigners and questioned even within his own centre-right government. Newspapers welcomed the decision, announced by Sarkozy's office late on Tuesday. “Sarkozy goes back to his files,” left-wing daily Liberation headlined Wednesday's front page. The “Edvige” database, which would hold information on people active in political and civil life and could include details on health and sexual orientation, has sparked growing opposition since it was approved without fanfare in July. Tens of thousands of people signed an online petition against the database and even members of the government – among them Defense Minister Herve Morin – expressed doubts about it. The conservative Le Figaro daily said it did not share the “Orwellian delirium” many of the project's opponents. “But even so, the new database ... raises all sorts of questions,” it said in an editorial. Concern about opposition to the project prompted a meeting at the Elysee Palace on Tuesday, at which Sarkozy sought to douse the controversy by ordering Alliot-Marie to hold a “consultation which will be followed by decisions to protect liberties.” As well as containing personal details on public personalities, the database would also hold information on people considered “likely to breach public order”, potentially including children as young as 13. Information that could be collected and held includes addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, physical appearance, behavioral traits, fiscal and financial records, and details about people who have personal ties with the subject. The government initially defended Edvige as a simple database that does no more than centralize information formerly held by separate security bodies that have now been merged.
