MOSCOW (Sputnik), Svetlana Alexandrova — On Sunday, Marine Le Pen's anti-immigration, eurosceptic party took political elites across Europe by surprise, winning 28 percent of the vote in the first-round of the regional elections.
"The French see inaction of the French government and EU institutions in regards to migration, their inability to tackle the crisis and their failure to protect national borders. In reality, people who participated in the regional elections did not vote for National Front’s policy, they just wanted to send a message to the authorities," Mariani, who is also a former French transport minister, stressed.
The second round of the regional elections in France is scheduled for Sunday, December 13. A FN victory could be used as a launchpad for Le Pen's presidential bid in 2017.
The party advocates a dramatic reduction in legal immigration to France from the current 200,000 a year to 10,000, a ban on automatic immigration rights, in particular via joining a spouse or family member living in the country, toughening in requirements for the French citizenship, and priority to the French nationals in employment and social housing.
