The Tangwall Campagin. Does Pedro Sanchez bear sole responsibility for the events in Ceuta?
Bruno Retailleau. He has a major responsibility. I indicated a few months ago that the massive regularization of nearly a million people in Spain was totally irresponsible. One country cannot impose its lax choices on all others. Migratory flows in Ceuta have nothing to do with chance: they are guided by human traffickers. These mafias observe the signals sent by countries.
As soon as a state shows a sign of weakness, they rush into the breach. Massive regularizations are false generosity and a real breath of fresh air. We need an extraordinary European Council to confront Spain with its responsibilities.
You also denounce Emmanuel Macron’s position on this issue…
We are still in the ” at the same time “. On the one hand, he shows his solidarity with Mr. Sanchez, on the other, he asks to strengthen controls. This contradiction leads us to helplessness. Progressives have an inability to think of immigration as an issue of civilization! Migrants do not arrive with nothing: they come loaded with a history and a memory that are not always compatible with ours. I don’t want a clash of civilizations in France, I want the unity of the nation. And this requires resuming absolute control of our borders as well as those of Europe.
Europe is not a federation… Should we think about such a political project so that all member states apply the same migration policy?
I am not at all federalist. I advocate a “double membrane”: Europe must firmly protect its external borders, but we also need a national migration policy. Europe was agile in erasing borders, but much less in protecting them, because it doubted its own identity, and therefore its right to defend it! I propose returning to the original inspiration of the Schengen system, with free movement for Europeans, but not for non-Europeans. I request the establishment of territorialized visas as a rule of common law. This means that the visa would be strictly limited to the country that issued it.
It is difficult not to see the dependence that certain European countries have on Maghreb countries on migration issues. You yourself experienced it with Algeria…
We must initiate a real diplomatic revolution. The future of Africa is not in Europe, but in Africa. Faced with demographic pressure, we must use all our levers of firmness, no longer hand out visas to non-cooperative countries, eliminate preferential trade rates and condition development aid on the recovery of nationals when they are expelled.
“Europe must stop being ashamed of itself”
Macronism has shown itself incapable of doing so… It holds its nose at the return regulation which provides for return centers in third countries for illegal immigrants, which is what the French, who demand firmness, want.
Beyond the treaties, what do you concretely propose to secure breaking points like Ceuta?
I am in favor of Frontex being able to deploy in Ceuta. This is an essential signal: Europe wants to defend its borders. There is no body politic that exists without borders; as Régis Debray wrote, it defines an “inside” and an “outside”. This is the condition for a people to remain master of their destiny and to be able to transmit their culture.
You mention migratory pressure as a real weapon of hybrid war used by certain States. How can Europe fight back?
A European Union border gave way in a few hours in Ceuta and everyone who uses migration as a weapon in hybrid warfare saw it. They noted the fragility and weakness of Europe. In this increasingly threatening world, we need a profound cultural change. Europe must stop being ashamed of itself: border control is the affirmation of our identity, but also of our power.
