in Brignoles, in the Var, Marine Le Pen’s voters want “we help the basic French before helping foreigners”

In this town in Var, where 59% voted for Marine Le Pen in the 2022 presidential election, the immigration law is moving in the right direction but is insufficient.

After heated political negotiations and its adoption in Parliament a month ago, the immigration law must pass the filter of the Constitutional Council which will make its decision public on Thursday January 25. Several measures could be reversed by the wise. The text plans in particular to tighten access to social benefits for foreigners and to put an end to the automaticity of land law. This text benefited from the votes of the National Rally of Marine Le Pen who had demanded “an ideological victory”. The town of Brignoles, with its 18,000 inhabitants, voted overwhelmingly for Marine Le Pen in the last presidential election (59% against 41% for Macron).

This town in the Var is located in a former mining basin. Romuald runs a restaurant in the small town center with its cobbled streets. At 50, he has only voted once in his life and it was for Marine Le Pen. He doesn’t know much about immigration law but he is in favor of toughening access to aid, and in particular Personalized Housing Aid (APL) for foreigners. “I would like us to help the basic French as much before directly helping foreigners, says Romuald. QWe also don’t let down people who are trying to get by, I understand, but we should be a little stricter on help and be careful who we help and who we don’t. Today, I think that France has a big problem at this level.”

“If he sees so many French people voting for Le Pen, there is something wrong”

“We give too much and in fact, the basic French have nothingestimates Nawel, 30 years old, employee of the same restaurant. We are a welcoming land, but we cannot open and welcome everyone because we cannot.” The young woman also voted for Marine Le Pen in the race for the Elysée, for her with this immigration law, Emmanuel Macron is making a “very small step” in the right direction.

“It’s good that he’s changing things a little, but it’s not Macron who’s going to change anything. It’s really Marine, she’s the one who’s going to clean up a little.”

Nawel, 30 years old

at franceinfo

In the next street, another voter from the same side. Isabelle who prefers to keep quiet the name of her business before talking about immigration law. She doesn’t know the details in detail either, but welcomes a hardening. She mentions problems of incivility, cleanliness and hopes that the president will become more aware: “I would like him to understand a little. If he sees so many French people voting for Le Pen, it means there is something wrong.”

But for Stéphanie, a nanny who walks a baby in her stroller, regardless of the measures of the immigration law, it is only an electoral strategy in a political world which increasingly resembles a Netflix series. “I have the impression that there is no real convictionlaments Stéphanie. I have more the impression that we are pulling the cover for political and voting stories. I think we need people who really have ideals and a project, more than politicians who play politics to shoot at others.”

This fifty-year-old hesitated to vote for Marine Le Pen in the last presidential election before abstaining because she is annoyed by the politicians who “play on fears”: She hasn’t voted for years now.