Guillaume Daudin and Adam Plowright -
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen proposed that the children of illegal immigrants should be refused public school places as part of tough proposals to restrict state services.
“I’ve got nothing against foreigners but I say to them: if you come to our country, don’t expect that you will be taken care of, treated (by the health system) and that your children will be educated for free,” Le Pen said.
“That’s finished now, it’s the end of playtime,” she told an audience at a conference organised by a polling group in Paris.
Opinion polls suggest the leader of the National Front (FN) will finish second in next year’s presidential election but she is hoping for new momentum after Donald Trump’s victory in the United States.
Speaking to AFP afterwards, she clarified that she wanted to block education for immigrants who are in France illegally, not all foreigners.
Such a move would contravene current French law which guarantees school places for all children.
She also said that any foreigner using the public education system without paying tax in France would have to contribute.
“We’re going to reserve our efforts and our national solidarity for the most humble, the most modest and the most poor among us,” Le Pen told the conference. The staunchly nationalist FN sees itself as part of a global revolt against immigration, established political parties and globalisation epitomised by Trump’s victory last month.
Its leaders regularly criticise the use of France’s chronically over-budget social security system for foreigners, arguing that needy French people should be prioritised.
Le Pen falsely claimed on Thursday that anyone aged over 65 could arrive in France and start claiming old-age social security payments.
Polls currently show her qualifying for the second-round of May’s election where she is forecast to face — and be defeated by — rightwing Republicans party candidate Francois Fillon.
Few analysts see her as likely to take power, but it has been an unpredictable year in politics and France’s sickly economy and immigration are top issues for voters.
The country last ran a federal budget surplus in the 1970s and has a national debt approaching the equivalent of one year’s economic output, or 98.4 per cent of gross domestic product.
Le Pen wants to withdraw France from the euro zone and has called for a referendum on the country’s membership of the EU. — AFP
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