The Ocean Viking boat, with 234 migrants, is approaching the French coast, where authorities are still refusing to say whether the country will welcome it. This situation puts Emmanuel Macron before his own contradictions.
Article written by
Published
Reading time : 2 min.
Which Emmanuel Macron are we talking about? ? From the humanist Macron, who during the 2017 presidential campaign, warned : “We cannot review our values in the light of the risks of the world” ? Or firm Macron, who retorted a year later : “We must beware of false good feelings” ?
Emmanuel Macron, for years, has been navigating the troubled waters of “at the same time” on the migration issue, between humanity and firmness. A posture that is shattered today against reality. It’s been five years that the president wraps himself behind formulas of the type : “On immigration, we are both inefficient and inhuman.” But that is political theory. The situation of the Ocean Viking is concrete.
Italy plays us a bad trick. The Meloni camp, with its own agenda, seems to be inventing deals between Paris and Rome. The Elysée is offended but the reality is there : a boat is heading towards our shores with men, women and children… We can hear that Paris does not appreciate that Rome uses migrants to twist the arm of European rules, it is shameful blackmail. But how long the Elysée can really take on this European arm wrestling ? That’s the question.
The argument of the executive is not to create a precedent, not to open a maritime migratory front. So much for firmness. But what about humanity ? Can we divide each election by dividing the world between humanist liberals on the one hand and xenophobic populists on the other, without applying our own precepts to ourselves? ?
In reality, this is the first time that Emmanuel Macron has really faced such a situation. In 2018, during the Aquarius crisis, already facing Italy, France managed to circumvent the problem : the boat and its 629 migrants had finally docked in Spain. Today, the fear at the top of the state is that the French do not understand the situation. The executive, however, has a certain talent for creating political objects : recently, the astonishing duo Darmanin-Dussopt launched the idea of temporary residence permits for occupations in short supply, provoking an immediate debate dividing the political class. It also worked after the racist slip of the RN deputy in the hemicycle : there again, the political object was simple, clear, identified.
But in this case, the mistake would be to make the Ocean Viking a political object : these are 234 people in distress. What does Emmanuel Macron really risk by reaching out ? Couldn’t he even benefit politically ? Unless the gradual shift of his majority to the right prevents him from moving the cursor, when necessary, from firmness to humanity. Which would sign the end of “at the same time”.