President Sarkozy complained today that his son Jean was being hounded unjustly as controversy continued to rage over the appointment of the 23-year-old student as head of France's premium business district.

Mr Sarkozy blamed the media and opponents for persecuting Jean over his imminent appointment as chairman of Epad, the development agency that administers La Défense, the business quarter on the western edge of Paris.

"It is never right for someone to be thrown to the wolves without reason," he said. His first comment on "the Prince Jean affair" came after he made a speech in praise of France's egalitarian tradition.

Napoleon Bonaparte had rendered France a great service in "ending the privilege of birth", the President told a group of sixth-formers. "That means that what counts in success in France is not being well-born, it is to have worked hard and proved by one's studies and worth."

The pupils and dignitaries struggled to stay solemn. France has been riveted for days by the sudden ascent of the President's second son, who is repeating his second year of undergraduate law studies.

Jean Sarkozy, who entered politics 18 months ago as a councillor in Neuilly, his father's fiefdom, also hit back, depicting himself as a victim. Because of his family name, "whatever I do, my legitimacy will always be on trial", he said.

"I want to be judged on my acts," he added. "I do not ask for any more rights than anyone else, but I do not ask for fewer either."

The media, internet sites and chat in cafés and workplaces have resounded with condemnation for what is seen as nepotism that exceeds other filial promotions by French presidents. Television comedians were having fun with jokes about Jean becoming the next UN secretary-general and Louis Sarkozy, 13, the President's third son, being offered a company chairmanship.

François Hollande, the previous leader of the Socialist opposition, accused Mr Sarkozy of taking over the state for his own use. "The election of the president is not about the elevation of a monarch and his family," he said.

Le Monde, the country's most respected newspaper, asked yesterday: "Has France returned to habits of the royal court that are so perverse that no one dares tell the monarch that he has lost his bearings?"

About 50,000 people have signed an internet petition calling on Jean to finish his studies and do work experience before seeking such a post. A specially designed internet site has been deluged with jokes.

The President's team struggled to defend the promotion, which is due to be endorsed by the Epad board in early December.

François Fillon, the Prime Minister, said that "Monsieur Fils", as Jean is known, was entitled to the job because he had been elected as a departement councillor last year. La Défense, where 150,000 people work, is the jewel in the crown of the Hauts-de-Seine, France's richest departement, which includes Neuilly.

Mr Fillon and others have also argued that the unpaid chairmanship of the Epad is a supervisory post. The Epad management, which takes decisions involving billions of euros of projects every year, was in the hands of experts, Mr Fillon said.

The prize for flattery went to Patrick Balkany, a baron of the sleaze-tainted Hauts-de-Seine council, who is Sarkozy junior's main mentor. "Jean Sarkozy has perhaps even more talent than his father had at his age," Mr Balkany said.

The affair has further strained ties between Mr Sarkozy and MPs in his UMP party. Privately, many said the promotion was indefensible, though they recalled that President Mitterrand, the late Socialist, had put his journalist son in charge of presidential relations with Africa in the mid-1980s.

The row follows another embarrassment for Mr Sarkozy, the public scrutiny of Frédéric Mitterrand, his new Culture Minister, over his past confessions to buying the services of prostitute "boys" in Thailand.

The Elysée Palace acknowledges that the presidency, now to its 30th month, has hit turbulence, but Mr Sarkozy's approval ratings remain stable.

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