French President Emmanuel Macron reiterated his scepticism about so-called innovative ways of tackling illegal immigration on Monday 6 January in a speech to French ambassadors. He had already expressed his doubts at the October European Council (see EUROPE 13506/1).
“Let me be clear, I sometimes hear about innovative approaches in Europe. I will be very cautious about these approaches, which often do not comply with our own European law or the agreements we have made with ourselves”, he said.
“But above all, if you’ve seen them work, I’d love to hear from you. This is a fiction. What has been effective in Europe is what I’m talking about: a cooperative and demanding European approach. Nationalist approaches don’t work, particularly for France, Germany, Italy and Spain which, until very radical changes are made, are not islands, and are therefore dependent on cooperation with neighbouring countries.
Mr Macron reiterated his support for “a more demanding European approach: protection of our borders, monitoring of migration and secondary flows within the European Union and more demanding dialogue with countries of origin and third countries”. He also opposed “repatriating people to countries that have never seen them”.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has entrusted the Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration, Magnus Brunner, with the task of exploring innovative solutions to illegal immigration, such as ‘return hubs’.
Link to the speech (in French): https://aeur.eu/f/exz (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)