In 2007, France will take to the polls to vote for a new president. The campaigns have already kicked off with one distinct issue topping the debate: immigration. The contest is turning into a heated debate in which some of the candidates seem to be fighting over who gets to lead the anti-immigration platform. The progression of these discussions will call for close monitoring, as the immigration issue is at the core of France?s (and Europe?s) crisis with Islamic radicalization.
Europe is on the brink of a collision between traditional systems of secular values and widespread Muslim minority populations, who have not been integrated in their host societies. Europe is now faced with a large minority group that is suffering from social segregation, racial discrimination, and sky-rocketing unemployment rates that many say originated from simple bigotry. In addition, Muslim minorities tend to be confined to impoverished areas on the outer perimeter of major cities, places that also remain quite violent.
In France?s case, where the Muslim minority predominately comes from northern and western African countries , effects of the country?s policies have already been witnessed: the Muslim youth riots late last year (Intel Report and WAR Report) increased radicalization among Muslims and reports of several arrests of terror group-linked local individuals aiming at striking within France?s borders. The people of France are anxious about what lax immigration laws can do to their existence; hence, many political candidates are starting to respond to this concern. In anticipation of the upcoming election, France?s political landscape is now likely to shift.
While some of the candidates? platforms have included an anti-immigration agenda from the very beginning, others have been criticized for ?trimming their sails to every wind? and taking well-timed aims at the others? ideological stands. The anti-immigration issue has primarily belonged with the far-rightists, which includes Philippe de Villiers (see photo left) but is better known for the controversial leading character, Justice Minister Dominique Le Pen (see photo right). Albeit his stand has not gained an overruling number of votes, Le Pen surprisingly beat Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin (see photo below) in the first round of the election in 2002. This indicates that even in 2002 there were a noteworthy number of French who favored harsher immigration laws.
Four years later, this number seems to have grown even further. Major events such as the Madrid and London attacks and supplementary threats to the country by Islamic radicals are proving to have influenced the French people. Pictures of the mayhem that Muslim youth riots caused the country in November 2005 remain fresh in the French mind. In a recent IFOP poll, the vast majority cited immigration and national security as the most vital concerns and considered the far-right candidates competent in dealing with these issues.
The two frontrunners are considered to be the center-left politician Segolene Royal (see photo in following column) who is moving strongly on an economic and social issues program and the incumbent Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy who is running on a center-right platform. In a recent poll, Royal narrowly beat Sarkozy 51 to 49 percent, pointing to a backlash to the recent youth employment law that caused great uproar in the country. Sarkozy was the main figure taking heat for the proposed law and the handling of the protests, and his campaign has successfully been challenged. Therefore, he is now adopting the right-wing runners? points. He recently stated that “anyone who is not happy in France is welcome to leave,” a statement that not only caused an upheaval among minority groups but also triggered anger by his socialist opponents who accused him of opportunistically stealing their slogan.
If France?s most prominent candidates start making the immigration issue their own, repercussions, perhaps in the form of additional violence, can be anticipated by the minority populations. A few scenarios should be considered: if Royal continues to lead the race with her seemingly level-headed perseverance, a more rational and compromising outcome might be in sight for France?s future; however, if a more radical candidate makes his way into the presidential seat, France might join countries such as Denmark and Austria and become one of the harshest EU countries when it comes to immigration regulations. The advancement of the political race in the forthcoming months will be interesting to observe.