The European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, has announced he will run for the French presidency, vowing to take a harder line on immigration than incumbent Emmanuel Macron.
Barnier, who launched a political faction in France in February, will seek to represent the notionally centre-right Les Républicains (LR) in the 2022 presidential elections.
Speaking to the Financial Times on Friday, Barnier said: “My country is not doing well. It is too divided and fractured — between urban and rural areas, between immigrants and non-immigrants, between the young and the less young.
“There’s lots of tension and lots of violence between people, whether it’s in sports stadiums or on the internet.”
“Since the end of my Brexit mission I’ve listened a lot, had lots of discussions and worked on building a team and a project,” he told Le Figaro, adding: “The world around us is dangerous, unstable and fragile. Our country is doing badly and we need a change-over.”
Seizing upon the anti-mass migration sentiment in the country, Barnier has called for a three to five-year moratorium on immigration to France, taking a page from Brexit leader Nigel Farage, who called for a five-year suspension on migration from unskilled workers prior to the 2016 EU Referendum.
In April, the Frenchman warned that if President Emmanuel Macron did not take in the lessons of Brexit on issues such as migration, then France could also see a movement to leave the European Union.
“We can find, not just in the UK, but here in France, in the northern and eastern regions… citizens who want to leave the EU,” Barnier said.
Barnier has been accused by Nigel Farage of using the issue of mass migration for political gain, saying in May: “My agenda looks moderate compared to the new Barnier. What a dreadful bunch of careerists they all are.”
It is true that, while the Frenchman has taken a harder line on migration as of late, he has a history of supporting open borders policies.
In 2011, Barnier said that Europe “must… be a place which welcomes immigrants” in order to sustain the bloc’s generous welfare systems.
“The most important point to remember is that the mobility of peoples and individuals in Europe has been a source of human progress and personal fulfilment,” he asserted.
To date, the 2022 presidential race in France has been seen as a two-horse race between President Macron and the national populist leader of the National Rally (RN) party, Marine Le Pen, with polls seeing the right-wing firebrand gaining ground on the centre-left president.
It remains to be seen if Barnier’s newly-found tough stance on migration will erode support from Le Pen, who has been the country’s most prominent critic of mass migration, particularly from Islamic countries.
It is also not a sure thing that Barnier will even be selected as his party’s candidate. While he is seen as the most prominent politician to throw his hat in the ring for Les Républicains, several other notable figures have also entered the race.
Other candidates for LR include the head of the Paris regional council Valérie Pécresse, MP Éric Ciotti, former Member of European Parliament Philippe Juvin, and Xavier Bertrand.
The party will hold a meeting in September to decide whether it will hold a primary for the nomination, however, Bertrand has already declared that he will not participate in any primary.
For his part, President Macron is also trying to appear as though he is taking a tougher line on migration.
Facing a potential second European Migrant Crisis in the wake of President Joe Biden’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, Macron said that France must look to protect “against significant irregular migratory flows.”
“We will therefore carry out, in conjunction with the Federal Republic of Germany and other Europeans, an initiative to build without delay a robust, coordinated and united response,” he said.
Even prior to the fall of the Afghan government to the Taliban, France has already been facing inner turmoil over the issue of migration. In April, for example, a group of retired military officials issued an open letter to Macron warning of the potential of a civil war if increased Islamisation and leftist identity politics are not tackled.
Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka
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