Edwige Diaz says far-right National Rally wants to exclude EU citizens from some social benefits

Paris (France), Jun 25 (EFE) - If it reaches the French government after the second round of elections on July 7, the far-right National Rally (RN) will seek to exclude EU citizens from certain social benefits, advanced to EFE Edwige Diaz, outgoing deputy of Spanish origin and who occupies one of the vice presidencies of the party.



CAMERA: RAQUEL FERNANDEZ.

FOOTAGE AND SOUNDBITES OF EDWIGE DIAZ, CANDIDATE FOR DEPUTY AND ONE OF THE VICE PRESIDENTS OF THE FRENCH NATIONAL GROUPING.

TRANSLATION:



1. "France is an extremely generous country and I think that French people living abroad do not receive as much help as foreigners living in France (not even at the European level? - asks EFE journalist) No, I think that France is a very generous country in terms of social assistance and that foreigners living in other countries do not benefit from as much help. I will give you an example, I think it is in the United States. Even French schools charge fees to French people. Here school is free for everybody. (But can't that bother some countries - asks EFE journalist) I don't think so because other countries don't give as much aid to foreigners as we do. So there you have it. If we reduce our generosity, I think we will still be more generous than many other European countries."

2.: "The Erasmus program is a bit special. We want to continue with the Erasmus program, but, in general, there is a shortage of student accommodation in our country, and I can see it in my department in Bordeaux, for example, where the manager of the student residences has signed a partnership agreement with an African country so that students from that country have priority in the allocation of student accommodation, which is not possible because we believe that we must give French students every opportunity to succeed in their studies. And given the shortage of student housing, we have to prioritize the needs, and we believe that priority should be given to French students."

3. "We want to maintain everything that works well, and we have more and more allies within the European Union. And that is why we will continue to work with the governments of the other European countries, who are very respectful of French democracy and who I assume will respect the results of the ballot box. What's more, our allies in the other European parties are also on the rise. So there is nothing for us to worry about. International relations, and in particular with our European neighbors, because we are not at all in favor of closing ourselves off, atrophying and withdrawing into ourselves".

4. "In fact, we want to reserve non-contributory social benefits for nationals. For example, family benefits. We believe that CAF family allowances, for example, should support the French birth rate, so family allowances should be reserved for French nationals. (So we exclude Europeans? - asks a journalist from EFE). Yes, it is only for French nationals".