By Sanchia Alasia
March 14th 2012
Nicolas Sarkozy, during one of his biggest campaign rallies, just over a month from the elections, indulged once again in anti-immigration rhetoric in a bid to appease potential Front National voters by calling for the greater protection of French borders.
This would include the proposal of removing France from the Schengen accord, which 27 member states operate, unless tighter controls by the European Union on illegal immigrants could be imposed.
Marine Le Pen, who is anti-immigrant and anti-EU, has stated Sarkozy is simply copying her policies, one of them being to withdraw from the Schengen accord.
Sarkozy went on to say that if elected he would halve immigration from 180,000 to 100,000 per year as well as make the process of obtaining naturalisation much tighter, which he claims will help immigrants integrate better into French society.
Socialist rival Francois Hollande’s campagin have criticised the announcement, which seems to be in response to the rising popularity of the Front National, and is set to become a central campaign theme over the coming weeks.
Originally published in Left Foot Forward
By Sanchia Alasia
March 14th 2012
Nicolas Sarkozy, during one of his biggest campaign rallies, just over a month from the elections, indulged once again in anti-immigration rhetoric in a bid to appease potential Front National voters by calling for the greater protection of French borders.
This would include the proposal of removing France from the Schengen accord, which 27 member states operate, unless tighter controls by the European Union on illegal immigrants could be imposed.
Marine Le Pen, who is anti-immigrant and anti-EU, has stated Sarkozy is simply copying her policies, one of them being to withdraw from the Schengen accord.
Sarkozy went on to say that if elected he would halve immigration from 180,000 to 100,000 per year as well as make the process of obtaining naturalisation much tighter, which he claims will help immigrants integrate better into French society.
Socialist rival Francois Hollande’s campagin have criticised the announcement, which seems to be in response to the rising popularity of the Front National, and is set to become a central campaign theme over the coming weeks.
Originally published in Left Foot Forward