Vote Me, And I’ll Cut the High Number of Foreigners in France: Sarkozy
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French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said there are too many foreigners in France, cautioning that the system for integrating immigrants is at risk of breaking down.
On a televised debate, Sarkozy said he plans to address the immigration issue if he is re-elected next month.
Sarkozy currently trails behind the Socialist forerunner Francois Hollande in opinion polls.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said there are too many foreigners in France, cautioning that the system for integrating immigrants is at risk of breaking down.
On a televised debate, Sarkozy said he plans to address the immigration issue if he is re-elected next month.
Sarkozy currently trails behind the Socialist forerunner Francois Hollande in opinion polls.
France will go to the polls on April 22 to vote in the first round of the presidential elections, in which a host of candidates will be on the ballot. According to a CSA opinion poll published today, the Conservative Sarkozy at 28 percent trails Hollande, who leads the race with 30 percent.
Hollande, who launched his presidential campaign months before Sarkozy, regained momentum when he proposed a 75 percent tax rate on earnings above 1 million euros, a proposal that over 60 percent of French voters say they would support.
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Sarkozy is now pinning his dwindling hopes of a re-election by wooing the far-right electorate, saying there are ‘too many immigrants in France’ and warning that the integration system currently in place is inadequate.
As reported by the AFP, Sarkozy said:
[quote] Our system of integration is working more and more badly, because we have too many foreigners on our territory and we can no longer manage to find them accommodation, a job, a school. [/quote]Vowing to reduce the number of immigrants by half, and to toughen residency qualifications for newcomers, he added:
[quote] Over the five year term I think that to restart the process of integration in good conditions, we must divide by two the number of people that we welcome, that’s to say to pass from 180,000 per year to 100,000. [/quote]Related Story: Europe’s Far Right – Fuelled By Islamophobia?
At the same time, Sarkozy announced new plans to limit the welfare benefit payments currently available to immigrant workers who have enjoyed residency for ten years and have worked for five of those years.
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