Will Macron meet his match in Marion Maréchal?

Last summer, a French magazine warned on its front cover that 250,000 migrants were headed their way in 2018. ‘Alarmist’, cried the magazine’s opponents but events in Italy may make it a prescient forecast. The declaration from the incoming Italian coalition government that they intend to deport half a million illegal immigrants from their shores will send a shiver through the Élysée Palace. How many will wait to be rounded up and repatriated? And how many will flee towards France, adding to the already desperate situation in Paris and Calais?

As I wrote last July in the Spectator, Emmanuel Macron can grandstand on the global stage as much as he likes. He can also push through his economic reforms. But it’s how he handles the migrant crisis that will determine if he is re-elected in 2022. Immigration almost certainly equals more Islamic terrorism in the eyes of millions of French, who point to the last seven months and the deadly attacks perpetrated by men of Moroccan, Tunisian and Chechen origin.