Minister blames immigrants as burglaries rise

France’s hardline interior minister has blamed central and east Europeans for a 16 per cent surge in burglaries last year, stimulating debate on immigration just three months before a presidential election.

Claude Gueant has raised eyebrows with his right-wing stance on immigration since president Nicolas Sarkozy promoted him to his Cabinet a year ago.

Mr Gueant yesterday hailed 12,000 fewer incidents of crime in 2011. It was a 0.34 per cent reduction from 2010 and the ninth straight year of falling crime. But he pointed to a recent rising trend in crime by central and east European offenders.

“It’s a trend we’ve been seeing for two years. These are raids by teams of criminals from abroad, especially central and eastern Europe,” Mr Gueant said.