Immigration: Michel Barnier shocks the EU by wanting to free itself from European justice
During the LR days in Nîmes on September 9, Michel Barnier felt that France should regain its legal sovereignty before the Court of Justice of the EU and before the European Court of Human Rights on the issue. immigration.
Olivier Hoslet Pool / AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
The former Brexit negotiator for the 27 seems to have alienated his former European friends with his comments on European rules on immigration.
During the days of the Les Républicains party in Nîmes on September 9, Michel Barnier felt that France should regain its legal sovereignty before the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) and before the European Court of Human Rights. man (ECHR).
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With our correspondent in Brussels
,
Pierre Benazet
This position concerns the question of immigration which Michel Barnier has made his hobbyhorse in the race for the right-wing candidacy for the presidential election of 2022. The proposal may well be seen by Europeans as a political posture, exclusively for destination of French opinion, it is experienced as a quasi-betrayal in European circles.
After two terms of commissioner, after having successfully conducted the Brexit negotiations, Michel Barnier is turning his back on the Union for some Europeans and his remarks continue to cause a stir in Brussels.
Ignoring the primacy of European law
The
European Commission
was particularly shocked by the words of its former commissioner since it lacks an uncompromising development.
On the one hand,
the European Court of Human Rights
represents the foundation of European values and the protection of fundamental rights.
On the other hand and above all, migration and asylum policies are partly subject to the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the EU.
The message is clear: there is primacy of European law, which is the very foundation of the Union.
Michel Barnier therefore questions the EU as Poland is currently doing about the independence of judges.
Severe reactions against Michel Barnier
And as if that were not enough, the unofficial reactions are even more severe in the corridors of the institutions of the Union.
Some say they are almost on the same line as Brexitor Nigel Farage when he calls Michel Barnier a hypocrite.
How can he have spent four years demanding that the British recognize the Court of Justice of the EU as a last resort and then proposing to the French to suspend certain effects of the decisions of this same Court of Justice when they concern immigration? ?
With this simple message of a few lines, Michel Barnier will have succeeded in undermining his European credentials.
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