"Those who defend the principle of a fortress Europe with walls and barbed wire (…), we see there all the limits of their speech", scolded Mr. Roussel during a press conference at PCF HQ in Paris. .
"Europe has a responsibility to enforce the right of asylum", he judged, indicating that the PCF "will take an initiative" in the coming days to "welcome families" of Ukrainian refugees "with NGOs , associations".
On Monday, the far-right candidate Eric Zemmour had estimated that the arrival of refugees from Ukraine risked "destabilizing France", "preferring that they be in Poland", at a time when France "is already overwhelmed by immigration," he said.
The communist candidate also called for "reaching out" to Russian "artists, sportsmen, intellectuals, researchers" whose "word (against the war) must be heard", so that "a Russophobic climate does not develop in Europe ".
According to Mr. Roussel, "the risk of the 3rd World War is real" and "everything must be done so that the conflict does not widen" in the coming weeks.
He again asked for "a ceasefire", "as soon as possible", despite Vladimir Putin's words to Emmanuel Macron on Thursday to continue "without compromise" his fight against the Ukrainian "nationalists".
"We must not register the war in a long time", according to Fabien Roussel, because "it means suffering for the Ukrainian people and the other European peoples".
On the sanctions taken by the West vis-à-vis Russia, the candidate urged to "go further", even if it meant "considering depriving yourself of Russian gas", while not wishing "to leave war profiteers speculate" in France.
To "control costs" and "protect the purchasing power of the French", Fabien Roussel notably proposed to "immediately block" the prices of "energy, gas, gasoline, electricity", and compel banking institutions "to maintain negative rates to maintain investment policies".
© 2022 AFP