Brussels, 15/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Saturday 13 February during an international security conference in Munich, the French Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, made a rather direct criticism of the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel's refugee policy.
After visiting an asylum seekers' reception centre in the German city, the Prime Minister explained that he wanted to “send a message highlighting both efficiency and firmness”. He also highlighted the fact that the EU “cannot take in more refugees”. Valls added that Paris was “not in favour” of implementing a permanent refugee relocation mechanism, as reported by the AFP and only wanted the EU to use the emergency refugee relocation mechanism, which as yet had barely been tried out.
This emergency mechanism for relocating 160,000 people over a two-year period would involve a commitment by France to taking in 30,000 people. On Saturday, during a meeting with the German press, the Prime Minister stated: “We are not in favour of a permanent relocation mechanism. Now is the time to implement what has been discussed and negotiated: hotspots and external border controls, et cetera”. He added that “France had made a commitment to taking in 30,000 refugees and as part of this 30,000, we are still prepared to take in refugees but no more”.
Valls also criticised the voluntary Syrian refugee resettlement project in Turkey. The French leader said “We need to be realistic: which countries are going to take in migrants? Sweden, Denmark, Finland have already taken in a lot? The United Kingdom?… Italy, which could at any moment be confronted by a new wave from Libya?”. He also said that he considered that solutions could possibly be provided outside of Europe, such as in the “Levant, Turkey, Jordan and Mediterranean”. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)