The Republicans nomination candidate for the 2022 presidential election, Michel Barnier is in the running for the party’s closed primary, which will be held on December 4. The former European Union negotiator on Brexit and former European commissioner was the guest of France 2, Tuesday, November 2, in the “8:22 p.m.” sequence of the 8 p.m. newspaper. Here is what to remember from his interview.
>> REPLAY. The interview with Michel Barnier in “8:22 p.m.”, Tuesday, November 2
Primary LR: more than 700 sponsorships collected
Asked about the number of sponsorships he collected for the Republican primary, Michel Barnier claimed to have gathered “between 700 and 720” signatures supporting his candidacy for the nomination contest, well more than the 250 that were needed. “What is important, he asserted, it is that elected officials, very numerous, of 80 departments, metropolis and overseas, support me “. He also stressed his loyalty to his party, even if he was pinned for not having paid his dues in 2019: “I have always been in this family, I joined the Gaullist movement when I was 15 years old.”
A pike against Xavier Bertrand and Valérie Pécresse, his main rivals for the LR congress, who had left and then recently resumed their party card for the primary, where only members vote.
Eric Zemmour: “I have nothing to do with this person”
“Mr. Zemmour is a polemicist, a writer, a columnist who promotes his book. Me, I’m not interested in talking about him”, declared the former member of Savoy, who presents himself as the candidate of the “‘serenity”. Before specifying: “I have nothing to do with Mr. Zemmour. The way he puts General de Gaulle and Marshal Pétain on an equal footing is absolutely scandalous. I have nothing to do with this person. When the theses of far right prevail, it is often that the others are weak, it is also something that always leads to clashes (…) Our country is full of ruptures, tensions, stigmatizations, we have no need for more, we have enough. It is not by adding aggressiveness to aggressiveness that we will solve France’s problems “.
Immigration: “flattening out” European procedures
On the subject of immigration, the former European Commissioner felt that, at the level of the French State as well as the European Union, was accumulating “a case law favorable to foreigners and not allowing to take the measures that we must take”. He said he wanted “for three to five years, that we can put all the procedures that are not working, deal with this issue humanely, but with rigor, and finally, stop this flow of illegal immigration. Send the signal that not everyone is can not come to France, that we can not accommodate everyone “.
He also said he wanted “negotiate a real immigration policy with neighboring European countries, put what is lacking in treaties, and negotiate with emigration countries” maintaining returnees in their country of origin. According to him, “23% of prisoners in French prisons are foreigners, who must be expelled.” The figure comes from the International Prison Observatory (as of January 1, 2020), which reports “two major reasons to explain this phenomenon. The first is due to the fact that foreigners are essentially from the poorest social classes, themselves over-represented in the prison space. The second is to be found on the side of judicial reflexes. observed in their regard “.
Debt: “It has increased considerably”
Michel Barnier questioned Emmanuel Macron’s policy on budgetary balances. “We are at nearly 3 trillion in debt, which has increased considerably, not only because of the Covid-19. It will take a more virtuous and reversed trajectory”, he assailed. But he refused to follow the outbidding of his camp on the suppression of the number of civil servants. “You will not hear me say that civil servants should be cut with an ax or plane. Behind these figures, there are women and men who must be respected.”
➡️Spending program?
“We will have to find a more virtuous trajectory, but I will not cut civil servant positions straight off.”
️ @MichelBarnier▶ ️ @ France2tv # Presidentielle2022 pic.twitter.com/enStMhO80Q
– Info France 2 (@ infofrance2) November 2, 2021
Hunting: “The measures proposed by environmentalists are punitive”
Although claiming to be a non-hunter, Michel Barnier defended the practice. “Hunting is a passion practiced by millions of French people, who are serious and know nature well. They are people who have a sense of conviviality, who have traditions”, he argued. “We must preserve this passion and supervise it. The measures proposed today by environmentalists are punitive measures. I will not leave ecology to the Greens. I want a humanist and concrete ecology, in particular to preserve nuclear power. , but also to develop other energies. I am against wind power, quite clearly. I am in favor of a solar plan, of hydrogen. “
