Riding high on strong showings in a handful of French polls on the 2012 presidential election, National Front leader Marine Le Pen has had an early start on the campaign trail.

The far right politician, who took over from her father as head of the party in January, sat down with FRANCE 24 journalist Roselyne Fèbvre for an interview covering a wide range of domestic and international issues. Here are some of the highlights.

Immigration

"We need to have a moratorium on immigration. There are certain sectors of activity which require immigration because the immigrants have skills that we lack. But beyond that, we can’t afford any more. Immigration is weighing on our deficit on our system of social protection. We have 5 million unemployed people in France. What are we going to do, import more unemployed people? That’s crazy."

The euro

"Incontestably, the Euro has not demonstrated its viability in terms of stimulating growth and prosperity and reducing unemployment for the people of Europe. On the contrary, it has contributed to the long-term weakening of our economies. If we return to a national currency, we can once again have the central bank of France issuing loans to the Treasury without interest. That would enable us to get out of this spiral of debt in which we’ve been living for several years."

President Nicolas Sarkozy


"France is collapsing because of a French president who is no longer running anything, who is governing on impulse or emotion, depending on the circumstances. And France’s interests and image have suffered for it.

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