Xavier Bertrand, candidate for the Les Républicains primary for the 2022 presidential election, proposes Monday, November 29 on franceinfo to “let” migrants “take the ferry” towards Great Britain and install a “balance of power” with Boris Johnson, while the British Prime Minister asked Emmanuel Macron to take back the migrants who arrived illegally on his territory, a few days after the death of 27 people in the Channel.
franceinfo: Boris Johnson wants France to take back migrants who arrived illegally in Britain. What do you think ?
Xavier Bertrand: Boris Johnson’s attitude is scandalous. Another one who thinks that we can wipe our feet on a country like ours is unacceptable. There is only one solution: we tackle the cause of the problem and the cause of the problem is the British. The British are hypocrites who, when there are migrants who pass by their side, are very happy. They keep them, they make them work, badly, in bad conditions, they pay them badly, but they keep them.
How do you plan to change her mind?
We are going to stop seeing migrants taking makeshift boats, we are going to let them take the ferry. It is 15 euros, it will prevent them from racketeering, the ransom of smugglers and it will be under other conditions. Boris Johnson will deal with the problem at home, he will stop lecturing us and he will change his immigration rules. Today, he asks France to regulate illegal immigration. I no longer want these tragedies and I no longer want the inhabitants of the coast to be penalized. For 20 years now they have been living in a dramatic situation. The migrants are in a dire situation and there are also the inhabitants of the coast. If you don’t do that, England will never change its attitude.
The Minister of the Interior announced that a Frontex plane would fly over the area to avoid further tragedies. Is it a good idea ?
On May 26, with elected officials, we said that we were going to experience tragedies, we asked for the intervention of Frontex, and it was in November that the government decided to put a plane to fly over 190 km of the coastline of the Hauts-de-France, as if he was going to be able to succeed. There must always be a drama for there to be media emotion, for there to be a political reaction. There is this inability to anticipate. We talk about migrants, we give figures, but these are the men and women who are in the most complete misery, who are exploited by smugglers, criminals.
The Touquet accords placed the British border on the French side. Do you denounce these agreements?
As of April 26, I will denounce these agreements and I will not hesitate to also send back the members of the “Border Force”, the British border guards, and it is in Dover that they will have to deal with the problem. Do you know what will happen immediately? Boris Johnson will change his immigration rules. There is only this balance of power that he can understand. We can hold all the meetings in the world by saying that we are going to improve what is not working today, that does not guarantee us that there will be no more drama, it does not guarantee that the population of Calaisis and the whole coastline will experience peace again. But if I may, it will be settled also far from Calais, at the borders of Europe and in the countries of emigration. If we do not invest massively in the development of a large number of African countries, we will never succeed in stemming this migratory shock because we must allow them to develop and also to experience prosperity and peace at home.
Words that prompted François Bayrou, guest of franceinfo on Monday, November 29. “Xavier Bertrand’s idea is irresponsible”, declared the High Commissioner for Planning, president of the MoDem and mayor of Pau, Monday, November 29 on franceinfo.