INTERVIEW
Discreet on the subject when he was a presidential candidate before his election in May 2017, Emmanuel Macron has now made integration "a top priority". On the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 25, the head of state had raised the tone: "It would be a mistake to say that the migration issue is a taboo issue or that we could not only when there are crises, we must not make people believe that we are being overwhelmed by this phenomenon ... France can not welcome everyone if it wants to welcome well. "
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Invited Sunday of Europe 1, Hervé Le Bras, demographer specialized in migration, says it is mainly a "political stance" on the part of the head of state. And according to him, it will not necessarily pay. "The latest surveys like those of Ipsos show that immigration is no longer the issue that most worries the French, overcome by the environment and purchasing power," he recalls.
"Motivations are not always linked to political persecution, for which the right to asylum has been conceived"
The specialist recognizes, however, that he agrees to reform the right of asylum. On 16 September, the head of state called on the majority and the government to be firm on the misuse of the right of asylum. "On this point, the President of the Republic is right, there is a real problem," says Hervé Le Bras. "Four or five years ago, there were just over 60,000 applications a year, last year we went up to 110,000 new applications, many come from countries where the problems are not huge like Georgia, Kosovo ... Motivations are not always linked to political persecution, for which the right of asylum has been conceived. "
The demographer nevertheless emphasizes "an important mistake" Emmanuel Macron: "He equates the issue of migration to the issue of asylum," he said. "Even though we had a very large number of asylum applications last year, regular migrations - those that give rise to residence permits - also went up to 260,000. economy, these are these regular demands. "