Mathilde Panot of La France Insoumise said France’s political left must refuse concessions to the right on immigration and identity, while defending her party’s vision of a multicultural “New France.”
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A senior lawmaker from France’s far-left La France Insoumise party said the idea of France as a historically white and Christian country is a “fantasy” promoted by the right, as immigration and national identity become central issues ahead of the next presidential election.
Mathilde Panot, who leads Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s La France Insoumise party in the National Assembly, made the remarks during an interview with Le Média, where she argued that the left must not accept the premises of its political opponents on questions of race, immigration and national identity.
Panot said the left must “never concede anything whatsoever to the far right,” arguing that accepting its framing makes right-wing positions more socially acceptable.
Her comments came despite France’s long Christian history, including the conversion of Clovis I in the 5th century. Panot said the right “fantasises about a France that does not exist and has never existed… a France that is supposedly a ‘white’ France, a ‘Christian’ France… a France being ‘invaded’ by—well, by who knows whom. In short, they are completely lost in a fantasy regarding the true nature of this country.”
She said resisting those arguments is the only way to defeat the right.
“The only way to defeat the far right is to remain steadfast in one’s principles and refuse to yield even an inch to them regarding issues of racism, immigration, and—well—all such matters. Anyone who actually cedes ground to them is, in effect, helping them advance every single time—because, by doing so, they are effectively playing right into the far right’s ideological framework,” Panot said.
The remarks come as other French political figures, including some on the left, have moved toward tougher positions on immigration. François Ruffin, formerly aligned with Panot’s party, said last month that he supports limiting immigration for work in order to protect wages for French workers.
Figures associated with President Emmanuel Macron’s political camp have also called for reduced immigration. Former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin have both urged significant cuts as Macronist politicians prepare to compete for left-leaning tactical voters in the coming presidential race.
Panot and Mélenchon have instead continued promoting a multicultural political vision they call “New France”. Mélenchon, who was born in Morocco to Sicilian and Spanish parents, has described France as undergoing “creolization” through the arrival of millions of foreigners, many from former French colonies in North Africa.
That strategy has helped La France Insoumise build influence in areas with large ethnic minority populations, including Seine-Saint-Denis outside Paris.
Mélenchon has also embraced the phrase “Great Replacement” in a different sense than the right, arguing that generational replacement is natural as one generation gives way to another. At the same time, he has said that native French voters, particularly rural, Catholic and working-class communities, are a major obstacle to building a socialist state.
Panot’s remarks underscore the widening divide in French politics between leaders calling for immigration limits and those defending multiculturalism as central to the country’s future.
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