Around 80 per cent of French citizens believe Macron’s relaxed immigration policy is destroying France and leading to poorer work conditions, according to a new opinion poll conducted by Ifop.
53 per cent of French men and women believe that France welcomes “far too many foreigners.” A further 27 per cent believe that France welcomes “enough,” meaning that a total of 79 per cent of French citizens believe France should halt their immigration program.
Voiceofeurope.com reports: The poll, which was published in the weekly Journal du Dimanche, also revealed that 64 per cent of respondents agreed with the statement: “our country already has many foreigners and welcoming additional immigrants would be undesirable”.
77 per cent said that they fear a policy that is too welcoming of immigrants, and 71 per cent believe that excessive migration will lead to a decrease in wages, due to migrants’ willingness to work for lower pay.
In response to growing unrest caused by the migration crisis, Macron’s government has taken a more conservative approach to immigration in recent months, but pressure from the country’s citizens and members of the French National Rally Party is being but on the government to slow down migration even further.
With the majority of migrants having arrived from countries across the Middle East and North Africa, in particular Libya and Syria, Pew Research Center has predicted that Western Europe will see a dramatic rise in its Muslim population, with France forecast to see a rise from 8.8% in 2016 to 18.0% by 2050.
Sean Adl-Tabatabai