Strict immigration control, retirement at 65, fight against“assistance” : during his campaign for the primary of the right in 2021, the new Prime Minister (Les Républicains) Michel Barnier had defended a liberal economic policy coupled with great firmness in the sovereign areas. He who defines himself as a “social Gaullist” had finished third in this primary, won by Valérie Pécresse. Here is a summary of the positions he had presented then.
Immigration
The former European Commissioner had defended very firm positions on immigration and security: “We can’t repair anything, we can’t build anything without security and if it’s the smugglers and the judges who decide who can enter France and who can stay there”he said to the Figaro in November 2021.
Mr Barnier therefore proposed a “moratorium” on immigration from three to five years: this « pause » would be a “prerequisite to taking back control of our migration policy”he explained. With this in mind, the candidate wanted “stop unconditional regularization of undocumented immigrants”, “speed up the asylum seeker’s journey”tighten the criteria for family reunification and reduce the issuing of long-stay visas.
He had also surprised, even shocked, even his own camp by advocating a referendum to allow a return to “freedom of maneuver” on immigration, suggesting that France should free itself from the rules guaranteed by the legal authorities of the European Union and the Council of Europe. Criticized, the person concerned had castigated “cry of alarm” and a “bad controversy”and maintained that in matters of immigration, “If we don’t change anything, there will be other Brexits”.
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Economy and finance
The candidate for the 2022 presidential election promised at the time a “strict savings trajectory” for the state budget and a “debt control”. To stimulate the “return to work and activity, (…) key to growth »he recommended reducing production taxes by 10 billion euros, and lowering social charges on intermediate salaries, from 1.6 to 2.5 times the minimum wage – while planning to increase salaries in the “essential public services of health and education”.
Follower of “courageous reforms”Mr. Barnier suggested “retirement at 65” and a “greater state efficiency” and local authorities, “in particular to eliminate all our administrative duplicates”.
Social
Reciting a classic right-wing mantra, the former minister said he wanted “encourage work and merit, to the detriment of welfare”in particular by suspending unemployment benefits “after two refusals of a reasonable offer”. He also declared himself “much more concerned” of social dialogue than President Macron.
Mr Barnier also said he wanted to combat social fraud, particularly in health insurance, and proposed to do this by replacing all Vitale cards with biometric cards in order to:“save considerable sums” by deleting one “a real nest of fraud”.
Environment
“We will reduce agricultural pollution with farmers, not against them. We will decarbonize the economy with businesses, not against them.”said the former minister, who proposed a “major national plan for housing insulation”Mr Barnier also said he wanted ” relaunch “ nuclear and investing in renewable energies, such as photovoltaics, biomass, hydraulics – but not wind power “which does a lot of damage”.
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