It is definitely French and probably early '70's.

Was thinking Bertin because of the seat stay cap. Upon checking I see the Bertin is a bit different. My mistake. One manufacturer which used this cap was St. Etienne but it is a cap available to all and was employed by numerous makers.

The presence of the ESGE chainstay bridge shows it to be a lower model. Doubt white was the original colour as there appears to be no primer beneath the white. Evidently someone got frame down to bare metal and laid colour directly on top of the metal. Perhaps the colour scheme selected was inspired by Alexi Grewal's 1984 Olympics Pinarello.

Appears to have had quite a rough life but can certainly be made into a readily serviceable machine.

If you could post a photo of the damaged fork that might further advance the identification.