France’s new interior minister has pledged to expel illegal immigrants who have “broken in” to the country amid moves aimed at toughening law and order.

Bruno Retailleau also called for a coalition of willing EU countries to compel the European Commission to tighten its immigration laws.

His pledges for a harsher response to asylum claims, violence against police, radical Islam and drug trafficking were said to reflect the growing influence of Marine Le Pen’s hard-Right National Rally (RN).

After a June election in which President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist government suffered heavy losses, the RN pledged tacit support for Michel Barnier’s new coalition between centrists and conservatives. 

However, the RN conditioned such support on his cabinet meeting its concerns over immigration, security and other issues.

Mr Retailleau, 63, a veteran of the mainstream conservative Republicans (LR), led his party in the senate until last Saturday and has been critical of what he describes as lax law enforcement under Mr Macron.

On Monday, he kicked off his tenure at the powerful interior ministry during Barnier’s first cabinet meeting by saying he had three priorities. “The first is to restore order, the second is to restore order and the third is to restore order. The French people want more order. Order in the street, order on the frontiers,” he said.

In more explicit terms, he told Le Figaro on Tuesday that he would unveil new measures within weeks, and that France “must not shy away from strengthening our legislative arsenal”.

“My objective is to put a stop to illegal entries and to increase exits, particularly for illegal immigrants, because one should not stay in France when one has broken in,” he was quoted as saying by the conservative daily newspaper.

“I will have the opportunity, in the coming weeks, to make specific proposals,” he said, while also leaving open the possibility of using decrees. “The interior minister has significant regulatory powers. I will use them to the maximum,” he added.

In another nod to Le Pen’s demands, Mr Retailleau told CNews on Tuesday that France and other like-minded European nations should strong-arm the European Union to beef up its immigration laws.

Germany’s decision to impose temporary border checks, suspending decades of largely free movement within the EU’s Schengen travel zone, underscored how European views on immigration were shifting to the Right, he said.

“I think we must forge an alliance with the major European countries that want to toughen up and have already toughened up, their legislative arsenal to change European rules.”

Mr Retailleau also said he would summon state prefects from the 10 regions with the highest immigration numbers to tell them “to expel more” and “regularise less”.

He also pledged to consult with North African nations about having them stop more undocumented migrants from heading to France and said he wanted harsher prison sentences for criminals.

“To close Islamist mosques or expel hate preachers [in France], my hand will not tremble,” he told Le Figaro.

Asked by CNews if he relied on the political goodwill of the RN, Mr Retailleau said: “I depend on the goodwill of the French.”

However, he conceded that voters had sent a clear message in the first round of this summer’s legislative election, in which the RN came first with around a third of votes. 

A Leftist alliance ultimately won the most seats in the second round, thanks to a legislative pact to keep the RN out of power.

“The French, too, have given us their roadmap. We must listen to the message they gave us ... They want more security and less immigration. I will apply this roadmap,” he added.

The Left-wing New Popular Front alliance called Mr Retailleau a racist on Monday following past remarks in which he attributed urban riots last year to “third-generation immigrants who have reverted to their ethnic origins”.

Last year, he appeared to praise French colonisation, saying it was “of course, a dark time, but it was also a beautiful time, with hands outstretched”.

After complaints from Ms Le Pen, Mr Retailleau’s rhetoric and the Barnier government’s nods to the RN have reportedly sparked disquiet among Mr Macron’s centrist MPs.

In the latest sign of tension, Mr Barnier was forced on Tuesday to ring Ms Le Pen to smooth over comments from his new finance minister, Antoine Armand, who said her party was not part of the acceptable “Republican arc”.

Mr Armand was later forced to backtrack, saying he would “receive all political forces represented in parliament”, including the RN.

In a sign it is aware of the RN’s newfound power to make or break the government, Ms Le Pen said Mr Barnier better “explain to his ministers the new government’s philosophy because it appears some don’t seem to have fully understood”.

In balder terms, her special advisor Philippe Olivier said: “If this pretentious little man were looking for an immediate vote of no-confidence, he couldn’t have done a better job.”