INTERVIEW
Emmanuel Macron made it one of his priority projects of the autumn. A few days before the debate on immigration scheduled in the National Assembly and Senate, the President of the Republic multiplies speaking on the issue of migration. In an exclusive interview given to Europe 1, he said that France could "not welcome everyone if it wants to welcome well". Invited Wednesday of Europe 1, the former director general of the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (Ofpra) reviews the announcements of the Head of State and believes that "it is necessary to harmonize the rules of the right of asylum at European level ".
ANALYSIS - But why does Emmanuel Macron talk so much about immigration?
"It takes shorter instruction times"
On the question of the right to asylum, "we pay the absence of European rules that hold the road", he believes, taking the example of Afghan immigrants who arrived in Germany in 2015. "Their asylum claim was rejected and as there are no harmonized European rules, these people arrive in France where it is necessary to re-examine the asylum application ". Thus, to put an end to these dysfunctions, Pascal Brice calls for "harmonizing the rules of the right of asylum at the European level".
More generally, the former Director General of Ofpra explains that we must "better welcome" people in asylum applications. And to recall that "one asylum seeker on two is on the street". "We must host them," claims Pascal Brice, also asking to hear asylum applications "with shorter instruction time".
Abuses in the use of AME? "We must fight them"
In this future debate on immigration, a particularly flammable topic could be at the heart of the discussions: State Medical Aid. Several right-wing and extreme right-wing figures are calling for the removal of this aid, which allows foreigners, including those in an irregular situation, to seek treatment. At the microphone of Europe 1, if Emmanuel Macron considered that a withdrawal of this aid would be "ridiculous", he nonetheless considered that it would be necessary to "evaluate" the impact and the cost of the device, denouncing "excesses". Abuses in the use of AME? "If there is, we must fight," says Pascal Brice, calling to "no taboo".
But for the former director general of Ofpra, the real problem is that "we are in immigration policies that lead people to be illegal". "Rewrite the criteria of the right to stay so that, when one corresponds to the right of asylum, the needs of the economy, or one is in situations of absolute humanitarian distress, then one has the right to stay, or otherwise we are gone again. "