Free Republic

In an interview in a book published by French politician and essayist Philippe de Villiers, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán says there is no place for multiculturalism in Hungary. “What outrages our opponents the most is the fact that in our Constitution we have written that Hungary has Christian roots, that here there is no place for multiculturalism, that a child has the right to a mother and a father, and that our nation has the right to defend its borders.” Orbán stated that the Hungarian people have long-standing traditions of resistance to “limited sovereignty”: “First there were the rulers of...

IN PARIS A FAR-right French politician launched his 2007 presidential campaign yesterday by declaring Islam incompatible with France's secular values. Philippe de Villiers, head of the anti-immigrant Movement for France (MPF) party, also charged that Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport was endangered by Islamist radicals, who he claimed had infiltrated the ground staff. Mr Villiers has stirred up controversy in recent weeks with increasingly tough statements about Muslims, which critics call racist and officials describe as exaggerated. France's five million Muslims make up the largest such minority in Europe. "I am the only politician who tells the French the truth...

Summary SNIP A new right-wing figure has come to the forefront as the popularity of Jean-Marie Le Pen, the surprise contender of the 2002 election, has begun to wane. De Villiers, leader of the Movement for France party, is the second serious contender who has emerged to challenge Sarkozy. De Villiers often uses his boisterous actions to express his disdain for the European Union and all things related, even commenting on the joy in using a national currency instead of a euro. He also is a firm advocate of the ideology that France's social misfortunes stem from lax immigration laws....

It looks like a political oxymoron, but Jean-Marie Le Pen's National Front is poised to strike an alliance with France's large immigrant Muslim community. A generation after France's right-wing party began its surge with a tough anti-immigration campaign tinged with both racism and anti-Semitism, three factors are coming into play that could spell a strategic realignment. These factors, which are still little grasped outside political circles in France but will have an enormous impact, include: * The Islamicization of France is largely a fait accompli. It is assumed that 6 to 8 million citizens or residents of France, 10% to...