Le Pen says London terrorism highlights importance of protecting national borders
Polish PM draws link between assailant, EU migrant policy
PARIS/WARSAW (Reuters) – Far-right leader Marine Le Pen on Thursday said the lone-wolf attack outside Parliament in London underscored the need for tighter border controls, as France shuddered at an incident that reopened wounds inflicted by similar assaults at home.
Security is a major campaign issue ahead of next month’s close-fought presidential election, in which Le Pen is seen reaching the second round on a nationalist, anti-immigration platform.
Wednesday’s attack has dominated French news coverage and served as a poignant reminder of Islamist attacks on French soil that have killed more 230 people since the start of 2015.
“The problem we have nowadays is this form of low-cost terrorism,” the National Front leader told BFM TV and RMC radio, adding “we must control our borders.”
The deadliest attacks in France over the past two years have been claimed by Islamic State.
In one of those attacks, a Tunisian-born devotee of Islamic State killed 86 people in the southern city of Nice when he drove his truck along a seafront promenade.
Le Pen, who has the backing of about a quarter of the electorate and is running second in opinion polls behind centrist Emmanuel Macron, said countries needed to cooperate more with each other on sharing intelligence.
She advocated closing down mosques with links to extremism and revoking the French nationality of those with more than one passport who were guilty of committing attacks.
Socialist Foreign Minister JeanMarc Ayrault, who was in London to meet British ministers and the injured schoolchildren’s families, said knee-jerk measures were not the answer.
“We won’t put up a wall that would stop life from continuing,” he told reporters.
France is a member of the open-border Schengen agreement that operates among several European countries.
Also on Thursday, Poland’s prime minister drew a link between an attack in London targeting the British Parliament and the European Union’s migrant policy, saying the assault vindicated Warsaw’s refusal to take in refugees.
Five people, including the attacker, were killed and about 40 injured on Wednesday after a car plowed into pedestrians near the British Parliament. Police believe the attack was “Islamist-related,” but have given no details about the attacker, who they say was acting alone.
Poland’s right-wing, euroskeptic government has refused to accept any of the 6,200 migrants allocated to it under the European Union’s quota scheme that is designed to share the burden of taking in the large numbers of migrants and refugees who have come to Europe over the past two years.
“I hear in Europe very often: Do not connect the migration policy with terrorism, but it is impossible not to connect them,” Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo told private broadcaster TVN24.
Earlier this week the EU’s migration commissioner, Dimitris Avramopoulos, on a visit to Warsaw, warned member states against failing to host refugees to help alleviate pressure on frontline states bearing the brunt of arrivals across the Mediterranean.
“The commissioner should concentrate on what to do to avoid such acts as yesterday in London... Poland will not succumb to blackmail such as that expressed by the commissioner,” Szydlo said.
The leader of Szydlo’s ruling Law and Justice party (PiS), Jaroslaw Kaczynski, said back in 2015 that refugees could bring diseases and parasites to Poland, which is staunchly Roman Catholic and has very few Muslims.