The leader of France’s far-right National Front party said on Sunday that a visit to Egypt to meet with the nation’s religious and political leaders had no effect on her views on Arab and Muslim immigration to France.
Since taking over from her father and becoming head of France’s National Front, Marine Le Pen has sought to rid the party of its anti-Semitic image and position it as an anti-immigrant, Euroskeptic force offering protectionist policies to shelter France from globalization.
Le Pen arrived in Egypt last week for a meeting with the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, Sunni Islam’s highest authority, Egyptian Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb and the pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria.
Photo: AFP
While she said she had agreed with Mehleb and Grand Imam Ahmed al-Tayeb on the threat of Muslim extremism to Europe and the region, Le Pen said she would not be reviewing her position on immigration from Muslim nations.
“No, my feelings have not changed at all regarding illegal immigration,” she said when asked by reporters whether the discussions with Egyptian political and religious leaders had offered alternatives to her party’s hardline position on immigration.
“We cannot just welcome [immigrants] in France — the only solution is that we protect them in their country and for them to continue to live in their country,” she said.
Le Pen also said that regional partners were key to curbing immigration to Europe, but that turmoil in the Middle East and north Africa, and the Western response to it, have made the immigration situation much worse for France.
“Egypt, for us, is the castle that will protect us” from immigration to France, Le Pen said.
Opinion polls this year have suggested that Le Pen will head the field in the first round of French presidential elections due in 2017. However, pollsters say she is not likely to be able to muster enough support to triumph in the second-round ballot.
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