MOSCOW (Sputnik), Svetlana Alexandrova – France needs to increase defense expenditures and toughen the immigration legislation following the deadly Paris attacks, French lawmaker Jacques Myard told Sputnik on Monday.
Earlier in the day, French President Francois Hollande vowed that cuts in the nation's defense spending would be off the table until at least 2019.
"We have been cutting our defense budget too much for too long and it is time to face a reality as it is, we have to rearm ourselves, increase our budget. We are not living in a peaceful world," Myard stressed.
According to him, the French authorities should also reconsider the country’s "assimilation" policy in terms of how and whom it grants the French citizenship.
"France should revise, reconsider and alter its foreign policy in the region. France’s enemy today are ISIL, al-Qaeda and others but not President Bashar al-Assad. We should use all our means to combat them and also to take into an account and admit our erroneous policy towards those who fight them – towards the regime in Damascus, the Iranian government and also the Russian government," Myard stressed.
The Paris attacks at a stadium, a concert hall and several restaurants left some 130 dead, with the Islamic State extremist group claiming responsibility for the tragedy.
The Syrian government has been fighting a number of opposition factions and extremist groups, including ISIL and the Nusra Front, since 2011.
France launched airstrikes against ISIL targets in Syria in September as part of a US-led international coalition that acts without either Damascus or UN permission.
Russia has been conducting anti-terrorist airstrikes in Syria since September 30 at the request of President Bashar Assad.
While the United States and its European allies do not see Assad as the Syrian legitimate leader, Russia and Iran have been calling to allow him and his government institutions to play a role in the country’s future political transition.
