MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th September, 2018) France should follow the example of Italy and adopt tougher rules on immigration, members of French National Rally (RN) political party, formerly known as the National Front, told Sputnik.
On Monday, the Italian cabinet voted unanimously in favor of a decree that would tighten immigration rules. Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said the measure would reduce the financial burden of "excessive" immigration, allow faster expulsions of "fake refugees" and immigrants with criminal records, and strip terrorists of citizenship.
NEED FOR TOUGHER MIGRATION POLICY IN FRANCE
"We are very happy about the decision made by the Italian government. It proves two things. First, Matteo Salvini is implementing promises he made during the election campaign ... Second, it shows that different approach to migration can exist in Europe and that immigration is not inevitable ... The National Rally demands the adoption of all these measures [in France]," member of the RN National Council Gaetan Dussausaye said.
Dussausaye also pointed at the fact that the number of supporters of political movements advocating for tougher immigration rules was growing across Europe, including in Italy, Austria and Hungary.
"Even in those countries where the governments have different views from ours one could see [the emergence] of tougher policies in the area of migration, for example, in Denmark," Dussausaye stressed.
UPCOMING EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ELECTIONS COULD BRING CHANGE
According to member of the European Parliament from the RN Bruno Gollnisch, "rumors spread behind the scene" in Brussels indicating that "the liberals are afraid that they will be overwhelmed by the so-called 'populist wave'" ahead of the upcoming elections to the European Parliament scheduled to be held in late May next year.
"Political situation in some European countries gives us hope that we will have the majority [in the parliament] ... We could get the tools necessary to create Europe with traditional family values and which would be protected from immigration," Gollnisch pointed out.
The European Union has been facing an acute migration crisis since 2015 when hundreds of thousands of migrants and asylum seekers arrived in Europe fleeing crises in the middle East and North Africa.
The issue of immigration has been dividing the EU member states, with some of them, including the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, criticizing the European Union's system of mandatory migrant relocation quotas.
