Families

By THOMAS SANCTON/PARIS

What's in a name? When you're called CHARLES DE GAULLE and you are the grandson of France's legendary President, quite a lot. That's why 57 members of le general's family published a petition last week denouncing the latter-day Charles for joining forces with far-right leader JEAN-MARIE LE PEN, head of the racist and xenophobic National Front Party. "Non!" the petitioners said to De Gaulle's decision to accept the No. 2 slot on the National Front ticket for next month's European Parliament elections. "The name you bear does not belong to you," they declared, calling his candidacy an "insult to the life and memory of our grandfather and great-uncle." Undaunted, the late President's namesake replied that Le Pen, an ex-paratrooper accused of torturing prisoners during the Algerian war, has "the same ideas as the general," because he defends "the independence of France." The next family reunion could be quite galling.

--By Thomas Sancton/Paris