the law, nothing but the law, but all the law

There is a right of rescue at sea, which cannot support exceptions. From this point of view, the long wandering of theocean viking before being able to land in Toulon marks a new black page for Europe’s respect for the fundamental rights on which it was built. But there is also a right of entry and exit of residence. Europe must succeed in ensuring that this right is respected, so that people whose stay it does not accept are returned to their countries. Otherwise, we risk the incomprehension of a growing part of Europeans faced with an overflow of arrivals, a misunderstanding which then feeds the worst populisms, as we have seen in Italy.

From this point of view, France, which issues year after year between 230,000 and 270,000 residence permits, remains a host country, despite what some on the left may say. But it is true that our country in particular is unable to implement an effective policy of deportation of illegal immigrants, which comes up against the ill will of several of the States of origin. Yet this is the condition for the law to apply. And also so that we have the means to provide people who legally enter our territory with decent integration conditions, which are not akin to a real obstacle course.