French President Emmanuel Macron seemingly won his campaign by throwing his support behind refugees and those seeking asylum in his country. A move that many other worldwide politicians did including Canada and Germany.
Now… Macron seems to be feeling the heat on the influx of refugees as he was recorded recently telling an asylum-seeking person to go back.
In essence, he seems to have changed the tune to only those who are in immediate danger and told the girl “You should go back home”.
“If you are not in danger, you should go back to your country,” the president said. “You are not in danger in Morocco.”
The woman presses on, prompting Macron to reply: “I cannot give French papers to everyone who doesn’t have them,” Macron said. “How would I deal with the people who are already here and can’t find a job?”
“Presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday welcomed the policy led by Chancellor Angela Merkel in favor of the reception of refugees,” the French newspaper Le Parisien reported back in January.
“Confusing terrorists with asylum seekers, with refugees, any form of migration, is a profound moral, historical and political error,” Macron said at the time.
https://youtu.be/SzVTceajFuc
As reported by The Independent:
French President Emmanuel Macron has announced his intention to set-up “hotspots” to handle asylum requests in Libya, where thousands are fleeing fighting in the country.
He said he hopes the plan will deter people from taking “crazy risks” and attempting the perilous journey across the Mediterranean.
He made the remark on the sideline of a visit to a refugee centre in Orleans this week, before he presided over a citizenship ceremony.
“The idea is to create hotspots in Libya so people avoid taking crazy risks when they are not eligible for asylum. We’ll go to get them,” Mr Macron told reporters.
His comments followed a speech to a group of new citizens in Orleans, in which he said that France wanted to create ways for Africans to seek asylum in safe countries “on African soil” to avoid dangerous journeys across the sea to Europe.
He said that for many, Europe “from the start is impossible to attain,” adding: “I hope that the European Union, and at least France, will be able to treat asylum seekers as close to their country of origin as possible.