on immigration, the president prefers Gérald Darmanin to Pope Francis

During the interview that Emmanuel Macron gave on Sunday September 24 to the 8 p.m. news on TF1 and France 2, the Head of State spoke at length about the migration crisis, a subject revived by the influx of migrants on the Italian island of Lampedusa last week.

>> TESTIMONY. Migration crisis in Lampedusa: “Now we see migrants more as a problem than as human beings”, regrets a resident

And the President of the Republic was all the more expected on this burning issue as we have heard strong and contradictory words in recent days. On the one hand, the message from Pope Francis who came to the Mediterranean meetings in Marseille to denounce “indifference” of the Old Continent and urge European countries to massively welcome migrants in the name of a duty of solidarity and even quite simply humanity. And on the other, the firmness displayed by the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, who repeats that France will not welcome migrants from Lampedusa on its soil.

Emmanuel Macron tried “at the same time”

Emmanuel Macron first tried to give us the eternal “at the same time” trick. Three minutes apart, the President achieved the feat of judging that “the pope is right to call for this start against indifference” and that Gérald Darmanin “is right” to demonstrate “realism” and even “firmness”.

“Such a large gap is impossible, it is a guaranteed extension. Basically, Emmanuel Macron has therefore chosen his side: he has heard the Pope, but he is listening to his Minister of the Interior.”

Renaud Dély, political columnist

at franceinfo

There is therefore no question for the president of welcoming more migrants, and to better convey this, Emmanuel Macron even brought out the famous sentence pronounced by Michel Rocard in 1989: “France cannot accommodate all the misery in the world”. At the time, the former socialist Prime Minister added “but France must know how to faithfully take its share”. A part that Emmanuel Macron forgot to cite. Or rather, he asserted that France had already “does his part” and that Europe was the most generous continent in terms of immigration.

The message is clear. So much so that the Head of State refused to guarantee the maintenance in the future immigration law of the new residence permit to regularize undocumented immigrants who work in so-called shortage professions. Gérald Darmanin flirts with the right viscerally hostile to this measure; the head of state has full confidence in his Minister of the Interior to find a compromise, as with everything else.