CMichel Barnier, remember: in 2016, you chaired a report on the missions of France Stratégie. But, having been appointed Brexit negotiator for the European Union, you had to interrupt your hearings. I took over from you at short notice and we co-signed the report in March 2017. This episode allowed me to take the measure of your talents: experience, independent spirit, composure.
Hence my dismay during the Republican party primaries. [LR] in 2021. To convince the hard core of members, the five candidates who were seeking the party’s nomination for the 2022 presidential election played “you can’t be harder on migration policy than me”. If you believe you, our borders were “real sieves”it was necessary to stop the “massive regularizations”reduce “half” the number of foreign students.
And this double find: a “moratorium” on immigration, a “constitutional shield” protecting national law from infringements of European law by way of a referendum. You have succumbed to the bidding war that has thrown LR at the doors of the National Rally (RN). In this game, it is always the extreme right that wins. So what will your line be tomorrow?
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You proclaimed it from the outset: we must tell the French the truth. Dare you! This implies first of all acknowledging that immigration has nothing to do with the budgetary crisis, climate change or the war in Ukraine, and sticking to the facts.
Should I refer the European in you to the data from Eurostat and the United Nations? France is neither a sieve nor a fortress. Since the year 2000, the share of immigrants has increased by 60% in the world population and as much on the Old Continent (only Eastern Europe remains a land of emigration). France has followed this movement, but at a lesser level. It regulates much more than is said.
Where are the “massive regularizations”?
The truth is that during the migration crisis of 2015-2016, contrary to the « submersion » denounced by Marine Le Pen, we have not played our part in welcoming exiles. Of all the Syrians, Iraqis or Afghans who have managed to apply for asylum in the European Union (EU), France has recorded around 5% since 2015, while our country accounts for 16% of the EU population and 18% of its gross domestic product. Certainly, since the fall of Kabul in August 2021, we have made notable efforts to welcome Afghans. But that is still three times less than Germany.
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