Thursday on France Inter, the Minister of the Interior returned to the conflict in Ukraine and more particularly to asylum applications, which only increase the war helping. According to him, this migration crisis is a turning point.
“We have to expect a lot of Ukrainians leaving their country at war. We are talking about seven to ten million displaced people according to the most pessimistic forecasts. If the war continues to rage in many cities, creating unprecedented population movements in European history, Gérald Darmanin declared that the Ukrainians had to be helped and recalled that “France, as the president, will take his full part and I have decided to bring together the prefects for this welcome.
According to official figures, France has, for the moment, welcomed 800 Ukrainians who have “arrived since February 25/26 on French soil, and sometimes to be in transit in order to reach Germany or England”. The Ukrainian population in France today? “Today we have 17,000 Ukrainians with a residence permit.”
However, if the European Union has said it wants to help the Ukrainians at all costs, including welcoming them in the best possible conditions, a black spot remains: Calais. If France and the United Kingdom have had the opportunity to lash out on this subject – and this since 2015, France criticizing the fact that we manage British migration policy -, the northern city is once again talking about it . In question? “A family of nine Ukrainians with children are stranded in Calais because they are refused a visa to go to Great Britain.” Gérald Darmanin then added that if “with the exit of Great Britain from the European Union, there is less continuity”, the British minister will all the same “install a consulate in Calais to ensure that this family joins the Great Britain, in line with the words of Boris Johnson.”
“No distinction is made”
And the other migrants in all this? Those who come from Libya, Syria, Afghanistan? Is there preferential treatment for Ukrainians? “There are no differences. Asylum applications in France, per year, are around 130 to 150,000. The right to asylum is constitutional and is granted if there is war or persecution. However, there is sometimes a misuse of the right of asylum for other reasons. The images of “sorting” at the Polish border (Africans would have been turned away because of their skin color)? “I don’t believe it at all. The Polish ambassador himself said that there is no sorting, that it is a Russian use to be able to depreciate the work of the Poles. No distinction is made.”
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