Macron: Afghan immigration is incomparable with Syrian immigration in 2015

World

Published: 2021-08-30 14:43

Last Updated: 2024-03-28 10:31


Source: RFI
Source: RFI

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday that the arrival of migrants from Afghanistan to Europe after the Taliban movement seized power would not be on the scale of the massive refugee influx in 2015 due to the war in Syria.

"I do not think that the situation that we will witness is comparable to what happened in 2015, because Afghanistan is not Syria and because there have already been large movements [of Afghan immigrants over the years]," the French president said during an interview with the TF1 and LCE stations.

"What is certain is that more people will try to reach Europe, which will put pressure on our ability to receive," he added, referring to illegal immigration flows.

He reiterated that France would receive Afghans who were threatened by the Taliban.

"This is unconditional, we have to do it, and we have always done it," he said.

In the year 2015, Europe experienced a very large wave of immigration, especially as a result of the war in Syria, which aroused resentment in Europe and exacerbated the crisis among the member states of the European Union.

As for the Afghans that France wants to protect because of their cooperation with Paris in the past or their commitment to human rights issues, Macron said, "There are many thousands of women and men who need protection."

"We did our best (..) We will build with our partners, through negotiations with the Taliban, which is now imposing, solutions to allow them to leave Kabul and Afghanistan and get protection," he added. 

France ceased evacuation operations Friday, while the US will end its own on Tuesday. 

Illegal immigration is a sensitive issue in Europe, especially in France, eight months before the presidential elections. The president stressed that the expected pressure "presumes that Europe will be better organized."

Immigration is now one of the main themes of the upcoming election campaign.

The French left, in particular, criticized Macron for speaking about the influx of illegal immigrants from Afghanistan after the fall of Kabul, while the right accused him of naivety.

The French president also implicitly criticized the United States, which uses other countries, especially in the Balkans, to receive the evacuees, which actually facilitates their possible arrival to Europe and not to the United States.

He warned that some "arrive to the Balkan countries (...) sometimes at the request of other powers. We must be very demanding in this regard. Europe will take its share, but it cannot take everyone's share."

Macron called on the United Nations to help Afghanistan's neighbors, where there are the largest number of refugees. "In Pakistan and Iran, there are millions of refugees. What we must do is put ourselves in a position to help these countries stabilize these populations (...) within the framework of the United Nations," he said.

In response to a question about an increased terrorist threat after the Taliban seized power, which had previously harbored terrorists, Macron stressed that "we must remain vigilant."

He also stressed the need not to "confuse" the terrorist threat with immigration.

"In recent years, the attacks in France generally came from isolated individuals who were influenced by external contents, and not from conspiracies hatched from abroad," he said. "We have strengthened our means and we are working with our partners and with countries hit by terrorism, such as Iraq," he added.