Macron targets migration, with an eye on the French election

French President Emmanuel Macron is focusing on migration, a key issue in his presidential campaign. He wants to strengthen the European Union’s external borders against illegal entry into the bloc’s passport free zone.

Macron is expected to run again for the presidency in France’s April 3 election. Far-right and conservative candidates have made immigration a key campaign theme, criticizing Macron’s inaction regarding stemming migration.

Macron stated to La Voix du Nord that “our passport-free zone (in Europe), is under threat if we don’t know how guard our external borders, and monitor who enters in.”

Macron met with EU interior ministers in northern France Wednesday evening as France holds the six-month rotating presidency. He also met with local officials earlier in the day to discuss economic issues in an ex-mining region.

Macron stated that migration policies should be discussed in a specific political group that can anticipate and create plans to avoid crises.

Macron spoke in Tourcoing, near the Belgian border. He stated that he wanted to create a Schengen Council to oversee the Schengen (passport-free). He suggested that the first meeting be held in the next month.

The Schengen region includes 26 countries, including non-EU countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. Many Schengen countries established temporary border controls during the pandemic that were in violation of the zone’s “freedom to move” ideal.

Macron wants to establish a “rapid response force” to protect EU borders from a surge in migrants. He is also calling for a revision of the bloc’s asylum process.

Although the 27 EU leaders are unanimous in their belief that reforms are necessary to improve the bloc’s immigration policies, they differ on how to do it.

One of the most serious political crises in the EU was caused by the 2015 arrival of over 1,000,000 people, many of whom were refugees fleeing war-torn Syria. Tens of thousands of refugees from Turkey arrived in Greece and overwhelmed Greece. However, other EU countries refused their part in caring for refugees.

The EU’s executive arm reworked the rules governing free movement within Europe in December amid EU allegations that Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko exploited migrants in a “hybrid assault” on the bloc, offering them passage to the borders in Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania.

Macron stated that he also wants the EU’s deportation process to be more efficient.

French President is looking to decrease the number of visas granted to non-EU countries that are unwilling to return their citizens who were denied asylum in the EU. The issue will be addressed at the summit of the African Union and European Union later in the month, he said. Only 40% of those who are refused entry to the bloc get sent home on average.

Macron is being criticized by political rivals for his views on migration. This was especially true after 27 migrants were killed when their smuggling vessel sank in November in the English Channel.

Eric Zemmour, a far-right presidential candidate, visited Calais in January. There migrants are living in makeshift camps trying to reach Britain. Zemmour claimed that migrants are dying at sea because we don’t have the courage to deal with them. They wouldn’t be here if we had said to them, “You won’t come into France. You will be deported as soon you arrive.”

According to the French Interior Ministry, 52,000 people attempted to cross the English Channel in record numbers last year. More than half made it to Britain.

Marine Le Pen, the French far-right presidential candidate was also seen last month crossing the border between France and Spain in Pyrenees Mountains. This is where migrants from Africa use to enter. She demanded the re-instatement of national border controls.

Valerie Pecresse, a Conservative candidate, recently visited Greece as part of a campaign trip to see a camp for asylum seekers who are seeking to travel to Europe from Turkey. She also spoke out in favor of strong European borders.

It isn’t a fortress Europe . But it is not a supermarket Europe . She said that doors exist and that you have to go through them.

Macron’s primary challengers are Zemmour, Le Pen, and Pecresse in the presidential election. It will be held in two rounds with a first vote taking place on April 10, and a second round between the top two candidates on April 24.