The Pro-EU Centrist and the Far-Right Rival
“We support putting a stop to immigration. … We have millions of unemployed and cannot afford any more immigration. Where are they supposed to live? It is not viable.”
— Ms Le Pen, in an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel in 2014
“The free movement of people between European Union countries is now a reality, with undeniable gains in economic matters, but also in culture and education or in daily life for cross-border workers.”
— Mr Macron, from his platform on his website, translated from French
“Just watch the interlopers from the world come and install themselves in our home. They want to transform France into a giant squat. But it’s up to the owner to decide who can come in. So, our first act will be to restore France’s frontiers.”
— Ms Le Pen, at a rally in April in Marseille, a city with many immigrants. She has pledged to clamp down on, expel, stamp out and restrict immigration, and to make France “more French.”
“The duty of Europe is to offer asylum to those who are persecuted and seek its protection. It is also helping to address the causes of migratory movements — underdevelopment, famines, climatic disorders. But the European Union cannot accept on its soil all those who are in search of a better life. In this context, France must take its fair share in the reception of refugees.”
— Mr Macron, on his website
“We’ve got Islamists in our country. The demands are incessant.”
— Ms Le Pen, in a debate among the five major candidates in March
“I want to help with Muslim integration. If you follow the line of Marine Le Pen, you create a civil war.”
— Mr Macron, in an interview this year
“We are being submerged by a flood of immigrants that are sweeping all before them. There are prayers in the street, cafes that ban women and young women who get threatening looks if they wear a skirt. I will say when I become president that this is not the French way. … If we carry on like this, the whole of France will become a gigantic no-go zone. … A multicultural society is a society that has multiple conflicts.”
— Ms Le Pen, at the rally in Marseille in April, in The Times of London
“There is not a French culture. There is a culture in France, and it is diverse.”
— Mr Macron, in a speech in February, according to the website French Election.online
“More and more are coming from the third world, taking advantage of our benefits. It’s a choice of civilization. I will be the president of those French who want to continue living in France as the French do.”
— Ms Le Pen, at the rally in Marseille
“There are two projects facing each other. There’s Marine Le Pen’s project of a fractured, closed France. On the other hand, you have my project, which is a republican, patriotic project aiming at … reconciling France.”
— Mr Macron, who called Ms Le Pen’s National Front “xenophobic,” during a visit to a sports complex in Sarcelles.
“Expulsion. It’s the law, it’s French law.”
— Ms Le Pen, on “60 Minutes”
“I am for an open society. I am for a progressive world. I do not propose to reform France; I propose to transform it at its deepest level.”
— Mr Macron, in an interview with The New York Times
“Islamic extremism must be crushed.”
— Ms Le Pen, after the deadly Bataclan terrorist attacks in Paris in 2015, according to The Guardian
“This imponderable threat, this threat, will be a fact of daily life in the coming years.”
— Mr Macron, after a gunman tied to the Islamic State killed a police officer on the Champs-Élysées in April
“The hate preachers must be expelled. The Islamist mosques must be closed.”
— Ms Le Pen, after the Champs-Élysées attack, according to CNN.
“Democratic states must have access to content exchanged between terrorists on social media and instant messaging.”
— Mr Macron, according to the BBC
“How can we think we are protected if terrorists can move around freely, if weapons can circulate freely? I am the president who will protect you.”
— Ms Le Pen, in Nice
