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On several occasions, Michel Rocard has indicated that in terms of immigration, France could not “welcome all the misery in the world”. Some elected officials claim that these comments are incomplete.
During his interview on Sunday September 24, Emmanuel Macron used a well-known phrase regarding immigration. “We have a generous social model and we cannot accommodate all the misery in the world.”he said. A formula used by François Mitterrand’s former minister, Michel Rocard, which has often been used in politics to justify firmness on immigration.
A nuance added later
Michel Rocard uttered this sentence about the misery of the world for the first time in December 1989. This firm speech regarding immigration will be reused by socialist elected officials in January 1990. Three years later, in order to differentiate himself from the anti-immigration policy of Charles Pasqua, Michel Rocard provided a nuance, declaring that France “can’t accommodate all the misery in the world“. “The part she has in it, she takes responsibility for treating it as best as possible“, he adds. Michel Rocard has pronounced this sentence in the past to justify a firm policy on immigration.