New French PM promises tougher immigration laws
France’s new Prime Minister Michel Barnier said that his country needed a stricter policy on immigration and integration on October 2nd, according to the Arab Weekly and other agencies. “We no longer have satisfactory control over our migration policy,” Barnier said. “As a result, no longer are we meeting our integration objectives in a satisfactory manner,” the 73-year-old told the National Assembly, France’s parliament’s lower house.
Barnier added that he wouldn’t refrain from reponing talks over bilateral immigration deals with certain countries, referring to France’s 1968 deal with Algeria which gives Algerian citizens special employment and movements rights in France. He said he could make visas to foreign visitors conditional on their countries’ agreement to allow France to return nationals to them, alluding to North African countries’ reluctance to accept nationals convicted in France.
The plan is emblematic of French politics’ rightward shift, which has convinced President Macron to appoint Barnier, a proponent of restricting immigration.
Barnier vowed to parliament to be “ruthless” with people-traffickers, who he said “exploit misery and despair” and encourage migrants to travel across the Channel and the Mediterranean illegally.
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“We also want to better control our borders,” Barnier added, citing the example of Germany, which has recently tightened immigration controls. “For as long as necessary, France will continue to re-establish controls at its own borders, as permitted by European rules and as Germany has just done,” Barnier said.
By introducing tougher policies, France would be able to “integrate those we choose to welcome into our country in a proper and dignified manner,” the PM added.
Barnier’s speech follows the recent rape and murder of a 19-year old student in Paris, a crime which saw an immigrant named as the suspected attacker. The event has inflamed internal debates on immigration, and France’s far-right has been accused of exploiting the tragedy for political gain. Police say the 22-year-old accused had been subjected to an expulsion order.
The prime minister said his government would seek to facilitate “the exceptional extension” of a detention period for undocumented migrants so expulsion orders can be more effectively enforced. “We issue more than 100,000 orders to leave the country, but tens of thousands of illegal immigrants remain on our territory,” Barnier added. France regularly issues deportation orders but only enforces around seven percent of them, compared to 30 percent across the EU.
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Critics of Barnier have accused him of pandering to the far-right National Rally party lead by Marine Le Pen, which could determine the fate of his government. France passed a controversial immigration law last December which was hardened to gain National Rally support. However, the country’s highest constitutional authority censured most of the new amendments and most of them were dropped before President Macron signed it into law.
Arab Weekly and other agencies
