Michel Barnier attacks European courts and arouses criticism from europhiles – RT in French

The LR presidential candidate, Michel Barnier, called for France to regain its legal sovereignty over immigration vis-à-vis the European institutions. He wants to submit the project by referendum. A statement denounced by Europhiles.

Is the time so far behind when the current presidential candidate, Michel Barnier, proposed a federal Europe for 2016? During the parliamentary days of the Les Républicains (LR) party in Nîmes (Gard), on September 9, the former European Commissioner for the Internal Market declared, according to comments reported by the political party’s twitter account: “We must find our legal sovereignty to no longer be subject to judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union [CJUE] or the European Court of Human Rights [CEDH]. We will propose a referendum in September [2022] on the issue of immigration. ”

The echoes add that during this speech, Michel Barnier specified the objectives of this referendum: “a” parliamentary control on the quotas of immigrants “, and” a constitutional shield “to” regain our freedom of maneuver “.” A remark that has not gone unnoticed by macronists, like the president of the Security and Defense sub-committee of the European Parliament, Nathalie Loiseau. In a tweet, it underlines the contradiction of the former right-wing minister: “As European Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier defended tooth and nail the primacy of the CJEU and the ECHR. Or at least we hope so. As a candidate for a primary he would deny what he defended? He who has always given value to the word given? “

Interviewed by the Politico site, the Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clément Beaune, also wondered: “How can such a sentence have been uttered by such a committed European?” The MEP Europe Ecology Les Verts, David Cormand, believes that “the downfall of what remains of the UMP-LR right is still staggering”. “The political and ideological decomposition of the two great political forces which have structured the French political landscape for decades does not end. It’s time to move on, ”he suggests.

Michel Barnier also aroused outside France a wave of amazement by calling for more “legal sovereignty” on the issue of migration, calling for a shift to “a review of all abuses”, including in terms of family reunification.

Barnier reacts by specifying that his proposal will only apply to migration policy

“Unheard of comments from Michel Barnier. These statements discredit the enormous work he did in Brussels as European Commissioner and then as EU negotiator on Brexit, ”said President of the Group of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, Iratxe Garcia Perez. On the other hand, his statements were the delight of those who hold a hard line in London against the EU, Michel Barnier having campaigned during the Brexit negotiations for an important role of the European Court of Justice in the implementation of the divorce agreement.

“Breathtaking ! What hypocrisy! The same Michel Barnier who was trying to demean the United Kingdom by asking for control over our courts and our borders … ”, launched Conservative British MP Michael Manufacturer. Faced with the controversy, Michel Barnier called for “calm”, specifying that his proposal for “a“ constitutional shield ”will only apply to migration policy”.

For the Hungarian MEP, member of Fidesz (conservative), Hidvéghi Balázs, “Michel Barnier has just proposed a referendum so that France can control its own immigration policy”. “This is exactly what Hungary has been saying for years: no Brussels bureaucrat should be able to impose migrants on a member state,” he adds.

As noted by a journalist, Michel Barnier had already made similar remarks during the political re-entry of the Objectif France movement in August. He said he wanted to act on immigration, through a referendum, with “a firm, rigorous hand. [et] humanist […] to regain sovereign capacity ”vis-à-vis the European institutions.