Tom Spurgeon pointed to this piece at Forbidden Planet International about French presidential candidate Ségolène Royal’s dim view of comics from Japan, providing an overview and some additional context:
“However, when Royal met Fukushima Muziho, president of the Japanese Social-Democrat party, in December 2006, the Japanese press recalled this vehement attack. While talking about women’s rights in Japan, Royal asked Fukushima if the problems in that domain didn’t stem from ‘the manga’.”
Here’s a Google translation of the ActuaBD article that sparked the FPI entry. And here’s an older article from The Japan Times on Japanese Foreign Minister and manga fan Taro Aso’s view of Royal’s… views.