France has "too many foreigners" : Sarkozy

07.03.2012

France's current President Nicholas Sarkozy took a sharp turn to the right Tuesday by declaring that France has "too many foreigners,".

"Our system of integration is working more and more badly, because we have too many foreigners on our territory and we can no longer manage to find them accommodation, a job, a school," Nicolas Sarkozy said on Tuesday.

Sarkozy, the son of a Hungarian immigrant, is trailing in polls to the Socialist candidate, Francois Hollande, and may therefore be competing to draw votes away from infamous anti-immigrant and perennial presidential also-ran Marine Le Pens.

In an interview, Sarkozy said he wants to reduce the number of immigrants France welcomes annually from 180,000 down to just 100,000, as well as place tighter restriction on doling out welfare benefits to immigrants.