Le Pen declares ‘playtime’ is over for illegal immigrants
FRANCE: Children of illegal immigrants will be barred from going to state schools and jobless foreign residents forced to pay a ‘‘contribution’’ for theirs to attend if Marine Le Pen is elected French president, the far-Right Front National leader said yesterday.
On the campaign trail ahead of next spring’s elections, Le Pen upped the nationalist rhetoric at a conference organised by a polling group.
‘‘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.
‘‘That’s finished now, it’s the end of playtime,’’ she added.
Le Pen is hoping for new momentum following the victory of Donald Trump in the United States and the rejection of Italy’s prime minister, Matteo Renzi, in a referendum.
The FN sees itself as part of an international movement against immigration, established political parties and globalisation, epitomised by Trump’s victory last month.
Le Pen said she wanted to block education for immigrants who are in the country illegally, whereas at present any schoolage child can attend classes.
She has called for a referendum on France’s membership of the European Union should she win.
Polls suggest Le Pen will reach the second-round of May’s election only to lose to Francois Fillon, the Right-wing Republican party candidate.
But the French political situation appears volatile and unpredictable, with record unemployment.
* A former French minister who led a crackdown on tax evasion was yesterday sentenced to three years in prison for hiding millions in offshore accounts, in a scandal that has rocked Francois Hollande’s presidency.
A Paris court found Jerome Cahuzac, 64, who was made budget minister when Hollande won power in 2012, guilty of tax fraud and money laundering.
Cahuzac’s former wife, Patricia Menard, was also found guilty and sentenced to two years in jail.
The pair spent much of their illgotten gains on buying flats for their children in London, the court heard. - Telegraph Group