Paris (AFP)
Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer said Sunday that the migration policy of the government, criticized by the extreme right after the deadly knife attack occurred Saturday in Villeurbanne (Rhône), "is by no means naive" .
The attack perpetrated by an Afghan asylum seeker, whose motives remained unknown at midday, "actually refers us to the issue of migration policy, it is by no means naive, the government is very attentive to these issues, "said the minister during the" Grand Jury "RTL-Le Figaro-LCI.
Blanquer was questioned about the reactions of the right and the extreme right to the attack, including that of the President of the National Rally Marine Le Pen who judged on Twitter that "the naivety and laxity of our migration policy seriously threaten the safety of the French ".
The government is "certainly not" angelic on the migration issue, he said. "I think that whenever there is a fact of this nature, the first attitude to have is an attitude of calm, respect and also expectation of what the police and justice authorities will say" , he added.
"It is obvious that it is an Afghan who has committed this crime and therefore it is obvious that in our migration policy we must be attentive," continued the minister.
"Now, there are a lot of psychological problems also in this kind of attacks," he said, before being questioned about his use of the term "attack". "I'd be careful not to comment on that one, it happened yesterday so we have to wait for the conclusions," he replied.
"A murder has been committed, it is indisputable, it refers us to either the political motives or possible Islamic fundamentalism of this murderer, or to psychiatric problems.In both cases it is obvious that we must be attentive to people who are returning to our territory, "he concluded.
The 33-year-old assailant killed a young man and injured eight others. The terrorist hypothesis is not privileged at this stage.
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