Far-right candidate in the final round of the French presidential elections, Marine Le Pen, said that if she wins the presidency, she intends to respond to the demand to stop slaughtering animals in the Jewish and Islamic way.
Le Pen added - in a press conference - that this does not mean banning the sale of halal and "kosher" meat, because it will license the import of meat eaten by Muslims and Jews.
The outgoing President Emmanuel Macron's competitor explained, "I will not cancel the shops selling halal and kosher meat. You know that a number of countries in Europe and even the European Union have issued instructions in the context of animal welfare and within the framework of health requirements, requiring the killing of animals before slaughter."
She added: Accordingly, I hope to respond to this demand that the majority of the French want, but this does not mean the end of halal and kosher, because I will be cheaper to import this type of meat.
ban hijab
On the other hand, the French far-right candidate renewed her determination to fight what she described as "totalitarian Islamist ideology", and her determination to ban the veil as well.
She said, "We must not leave any space for Islamist ideology, or deal with it with any tolerance, and therefore we have prepared a bill aimed at banning this matter on French soil, and banning funding and associations that promote it, and the spaces in which these ideologies are taught."
"I consider the Islamist veil a symbol of that totalitarian ideology, and that's why I hope to rid all women of the veil," Le Pen said.
Macron announces the results of the elections in the first round (French)
Results and project
French centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron topped the results of the presidential elections that took place last Sunday, with 28.1% of the votes, according to the preliminary results, at a time when far-right candidate Marine Le Pen came second with 23.3%, to face the two candidates in the run-off scheduled for 24 This April.
Macron said - at his campaign headquarters after the announcement of the preliminary results of the poll - that "his project is much better than the project of the far right," referring to his rival Le Pen, whom he had previously defeated in the 2017 elections.
On Tuesday, the French president claimed that Le Pen unspokenly wants the country out of the European Union.
In his speech in the eastern city of Mulhouse, Macron referred to the fact that Le Pen had said she wanted to refrain from paying EU duties, and to change some aspects of France's relationship with him.
"Some tried it, they had problems," Macron said, adding that "this means that she wants to leave, but she does not think she has the confidence to say it."