“Filtering” at the external borders, solidarity conditional on “Stricter controls”… The government outlined, on Tuesday 5 October, in the Senate the vision that France will carry during its presidency of the European Union (EU), in order to find a consensus around the pact on asylum and migration.
The French government, which will take the rotating presidency of the EU council in January, was invited to outline its strategy during a debate in the hemicycle at the initiative of the Les Républicains (LR) group, on this reform project presented in September 2020 by the European Commission, which is the subject of dissension between the Twenty-Seven, some deeming the text too restrictive, others not enough.
The regulation says “filtering”
France will support “A policy of solidarity” towards the countries of “First entry” in Europe, which are, for example, Greece, Italy or Spain, which cannot “Suffer the consequences of geography alone”, first declared Marlène Schiappa, Minister Delegate, responsible in particular for asylum issues.
Corn “The rigorous control of the border seems to us to be a condition of solidarity”, she immediately qualified, three months from the French presidency and six months from the presidential election. “The government considers essential the regulation says “filtering”, which is part of the pact and which will establish much stricter control obligations at the external border ”, insisted the minister who wants “Building a more united but also more sovereign Europe”.
Those ” tools “, replied Marlène Schiappa to the senators who questioned her, “Will allow us to regain control of our migration policy”. If the pact entered into force as it stood, “France should receive fewer asylum requests mechanically and above all better targeted requests, from French-speaking people, from people who have lived in France, who have strong and deep links with France”, added the minister.
The pact “Should make it possible to act more effectively”, welcomed Pascale Gruny (LR), deploring however that the regime proposed by Brussels is not binding. In terms of evictions, she stressed, “The figures are catastrophic”, noting in particular a number of people effectively expelled by 29%.
If the migrants “Are manifestly ineligible for asylum”, they must be expelled, “Otherwise they will feed secondary flows across Europe for years to come”, agreed Marlène Schiappa.