“I will vote against the majority of texts”, warns Raphaël Glucksmann

The head of the list of the Socialist Party and Place publique in the European elections in June, guest of “Demain l’Europe” on franceinfo on Friday, presented his vision of European migration policy.

“I will vote against the majority of texts” of the European pact on migration and asylum, warns Friday March 29 on franceinfo Raphaël Glucksmann, head of the PS-Place publique list. On December 20, 2023, after three years of tough negotiations, the Council and the European Parliament reached an agreement on the reform of the European migration system. The objective is to adopt it definitively before the European elections on June 9.

The group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, to which Raphaël Glucksmann belongs, supports this European pact on migration and asylum. But the MEP is not satisfied with this agreement. He feels that he is not balanced enough. “This text, which was supposed to respond to the chaos of European migration policies, imposes filtering and repressive measures on entry but does not impose solidarity and a common migration policy”he argues.

MEP opposed to “Dublien III” regulation

Gold, “the challenge was to get out of the chaos of what we call ‘Dublin’, that is to say a reception system which places all the weight on the countries of entry, the Italy and Greece”, deplores the elected official. According to this regulation said “Dublin III”an asylum seeker must first submit his application in the country through which he entered the European Union.

Raphaël Glucksmann, who “agreed with the compromise found” by MEPs, criticizes the European Council, which brings together the Member States, for having “ceded to Viktor Orbán”the far-right Prime Minister of Hungary. “In reality, the pact does not provide for distribution” migrants, denounces the head of the PS-Place publique list. “We can, for example, when we are Viktor Orbán, decide that our contribution to European solidarity is to finance barbed wire around Hungary and not to welcome asylum seekers”he adds.

“In three years, we will have a discussion again and a pact again because we will not have built this European migration policy”, predicts Raphaël Glucksmann. To avoid this, he calls for European solidarity to be put in place. “People don’t want to go to Italy or Greece, they want to go to Europe. So, it is the European nations who must, jointly, assume this and distribute the asylum seekers between the different European nations”defends the MEP.

The drowned people of the Mediterranean and labor immigration absent from the pact, according to him

But “the first thing is that we must save people in the Mediterranean Sea”insists Raphaël Glucksmann before continuing: “Everyone has become accustomed to the fact that our sea has become a cemetery. There is not a word about it in this pact. We must restart rescue operations.”

The MEP also calls for the creation of “legal immigration routes”. “This is again what is missed in this pact”, he regrets. This must be managed at European Union level and not through bilateral agreements, according to him. “We need to identify our needs based on European economies. We need work immigration,” he argues, emphasizing that Italy’s far-right Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, had softened her position on this subject.

The head of the PS-Place publique list is for the implementation of commuter visas. “Researchers have found – these are not the views of NGOs – that when you have the possibility of going back and forth with your country of origin, you settle less permanently in Europe”explains Raphaël Glucksmann.

He assures that he does not wear “an idealistic speech but a speech based on reality”. However, “this speech is categorized a priori as unpopular so no one carries it anymore”declares the MEP, regretting the rise of far-right parties in Europe which he describes as “junk patriots”.