PARIS, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- French Presidential candidate Francois Fillon on Wednesday pledged to impose migration quotas to counter rampant migrant flows which may pose risk to domestic security and heavyweight economic burdens.
"I want France to be able to decide every year the number of people it can accept on its territory," Fillon told RMC radio and news channel BFMTV.
The conservative candidate for the upcoming presidential election stressed that the eurozone's second largest economy where millions are reported jobless, needs immigration quotas after insecurity and war in Africa and the Middle East prompted unprecedented migration crisis.
The former prime minister, the polls' favorite to unseat the Socialist President Francois Hollande in May, also pledged to tighten asylum policy.
In 2013, France received 235,000 migrants, up from 164,000 arrivals in 2006, according to figures released by national statistics institute, Insee.
An ifop-Fiducial poll released on Tuesday predicted the 62-year-old liberal politician to beat far-rightist leader Marine le Pen with 64 percent to 36 percent in a runoff next May.
