00:00For more on these political tensions, we can go now straight to Strasbourg and speak to the Patriots for Europe,
00:05MEP, Fabrice Lageri.
00:07Good morning, Fabrice. Thank you so much for joining us here on Europe Today.
00:11So the army will be deployed now to the streets of France and Italy. Do you support this measure?
00:16Well, good morning and thank you very much for inviting me.
00:20First of all, I would like to stress that in the case of France, of course, there were legitimate protests.
00:27And that was because of the schooling condition, because there are difficulties also in everyday life for many French people.
00:36So my political party, Rassemblement National, of course, wants to improve everyday life of people in France.
00:44But we want to improve the life of honest people.
00:47But what we have witnessed over the past weekend is something different, because there were many people coming from suburbs
00:57to loot shops,
00:59to destroy private property, even to destroy or to loot private houses and apartments.
01:07So this is something completely different that requires a firm response from the government.
01:14And so far, the French government and President Emmanuel Macron have not really addressed the problem.
01:22And do we have proof, Fabrice Lageri, of who is responsible for the violence and vandalism?
01:27This talk of foreign interference, is there proof yet of this?
01:31Well, there are footages and there are videos showing the profile of looters.
01:38There are, well, ongoing investigations.
01:42When we see foreign flags, you know, unfortunately, many people got used to seeing Palestinian flags, Algerian flags.
01:56So this is, of course, the symbol of foreign, I don't know if this is foreign interference,
02:03but at least it means that some of the people gathered during these violent riots,
02:12they don't like France, they hate France, they hate the country where most of them were born.
02:20So have integration policies failed in France?
02:26Of course, it has failed.
02:28But what has failed is also the, well, there was not a controlled migration policy.
02:37So we need to draw the conclusions.
02:40I mean, the government needs to draw the conclusions from that failure.
02:44Of course, Rassemblement National, Marine Le Pen, Jordan Bardella, we have a proposal to French voters.
02:50We want to take back control over migration, but unfortunately, the failures of the past have consequences now, today.
02:58And this requires, as well, a firm response from the French judiciary.
03:04We also want to improve legislation in France.
03:09We want to have minimum sanctions, criminal sanctions.
03:13So there is a maximum in the criminal court, but there should be also a minimum.
03:17Okay, of course, Fabrice Legere.
03:18And the reality in France is we see over 25% of under 30s at risk, of course, of poverty
03:24or social exclusion.
03:26So really root issues there.
03:28But Fabrice Legere, thank you so much for speaking to us there.
03:32Fabrice Legere, thank you so much for speaking to us here.
