‘Native French’ Pose ‘Serious Problem’ for Social Cohesion, Says Far-Left Leader Mélenchon

Those who consider themselves “native French” represent a “serious problem” for social cohesion, far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon declared as he laid out the vision for the “New Popular Front” alliance in the snap legislative election called by President Emmanuel Macron.

Former French presidential candidate, leader of the far-left La France Insoumise (LFI) party and effective head of the New Popular Front leftist election alliance, Jean-Luc Mélenchon hailed the demographic changes in his country while attacking the native population of France in a speech to supporters on Friday.

“When I was born, one in ten French people had a foreign grandparent, now it’s one in four. Consequently, those who call themselves native French pose a serious problem to the cohesion of society,” he said in comments reported by Le Journal du Dimanche.

“In the Paris region, there are thirteen million of us, including at least eight million immigrants: Corsicans, Bretons, Malians, Algerians, Moroccans… Everyone was torn from the environment from which their parents or grandparents came and put against the wall to build a society.”

The leftist leader went on to call for the “re-foundation of France”, explaining: “Ransacked by liberal policies, trashed by racism, trashed by divisions, it is this new France that we must have in mind when we undertake the policy of the New Popular Front.”

The comments drew swift pushback from nationalist figures, including former presidential candidate and leader of the populist Reconquête (Reconquest) party, Éric Zemmour.

“Let Mélenchon understand: the French were here a thousand years ago, they will remain here for another thousand years and we will do everything to prevent their replacement by his new people,” Zemmour said.

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