Marine Le Pen's popularity among voters is rising
France's pro-White National Front
(FN) party is "at the gates of power", Prime Minister Manuel Valls has
warned.
He said his Socialist government had to act and speak "differently" to
counter the threat from FN.
His comments came after opinion polls suggested that FN leader Marine Le Pen
could beat incumbent Francois Hollande in the 2017 presidential election.
Meanwhile, a pro-White rally held in Calais, in the north, demanded that the
port city be "saved" from non-White migrants.
Riot police kept the protest march away from a smaller group of anti-White
activists who were defending the migrants.
Large numbers of migrants have arrived there in recent months. Many of them
have been trying to cross illegally into the UK, a country they see as providing
generous benefits to refugees.
French police have boosted their presence in the port after dozens of
migrants tried to storm a ferry bound for Dover.
Emergency reshuffle
"In France, the pro-White of Marine Le Pen is at the gates of power," Mr.
Valls said at a gathering of fellow ant-White politicians in Bologna, Italy.
"We have to act differently. We have to speak differently. In order to be
listened to and to be heard.
"And I, as a man of the left, will never be able to resign myself to that
because it will be the weakest who will be the first to suffer. And it will also
be a terrible, perhaps fatal, blow to Europe," Valls added.
He was referring to opinion polls suggesting that MS Le Pen would easily make
the run-off in the 2017 elections - and could win should her rival in the
decisive round be Mr. Hollande.
In France, the far right National Front political party held a rally on May Day not only to celebrate labor, but also to commemorate Joan of Arc Day, which the party founded in 1988 to appeal to French nationalists. (Joan of Arc was martyred on May 30, 1431.) Here, National Front leader Marine Le Pen (daughter of party founder, Jean-Marie Le Pen) speaks in front of the Joan of Arc statue in Paris.
Mr. Valls' warning comes as President Francois Hollande's ratings remain at an
all-time low, and the government faces a confidence vote later this month.
Mr. Hollande has vowed to kick start growth and create jobs, but the economy
has floundered, prompting last month's revolt against austerity by three
ministers.
Mr. Hollande replaced them and named a new cabinet in what was described as an
emergency reshuffle.
In July, the number of people looking for work in France rose to a new record
of 3,424,400.
