46 Quotes by Najat Vallaud-Belkacem

It's more necessary than ever before to ensure that discernment and the development of a critical mind guide our take on the world and inform our relationship to the media and information.

In Europe, we will work towards having a common stance, while in France, we will strengthen our protection for asylum seekers whose lives are in danger because of their sexual orientation.

We have to reappropriate the concept of laicite (secularism) so we can explain to our young pupils that whatever their faith, they belong to this idea, and they're not excluded. Secularism is not something against them; it protects them.

If a big number of young pupils felt secularism was an attack on them, it was because the term had been misused and deformed in the public debate for years by the extreme-right and the right as an attack on Islam. The term had often been misused to point out how Muslims were different to others, and that is clearly problematic.

I decided to make a lifetime commitment against social injustices, against inequalities, and that is why I am profoundly from the Left.

It is not just family that must transmit values, but school also.

When I started out, it was rare to see elected representatives with foreign roots. Often, I was relegated to my origins, put in the diversity box: 'You're the new face of diversity.' That annoyed me because I always felt French, and suddenly I was being made to feel I wan't as French as others.

I feel totally French - I don't feel half-French because of my dual nationality. For me, dual nationality just means I don't deny my roots.

I'm aware that beyond my own need to find a personal balance, I should be sending a signal to society as women's minister about the importance of work-life balance.