Latest news with #FrenchNationalAssembly
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
France blames Brexit for Channel migrant crossings
A leading French MP has blamed Britain's decision to quit the EU for the surge in migrants crossing the Channel in small boats. Éléonore Caroit, a member of president Emmanuel Macron's Renaissance party in the French National Assembly, said numbers had been increasing since Brexit, which meant Britain no longer had a returns agreement with the EU and a 'very weak asylum policy'. She also repeated long-held French claims that Britain represented an 'El Dorado' to migrants because of its 'attractive' benefits and asylum system. El Dorado is a mythical city of gold, supposedly located in South America. Her comments come amid increasing frustration in the UK across political parties at the failure of the French to stop migrants crossing the Channel, after Saturday saw a record daily total of 1,194 people reach the UK. The French stopped just 184 migrants from leaving on Saturday, fewer than 15 per cent of the total 1,378 who attempted the crossing. The 1,194 brought the total so far this year to 14,811, the highest ever recorded in the first five months of a year and up 42 per cent on this time last year. So far this year, the French have intercepted just 38 per cent of migrants, down from 45 per cent in 2024, 46.9 per cent in 2023 and 42.4 per cent in 2022 despite the UK putting up £480 million over three years to fund extra officers and surveillance equipment on the beaches to stop the migrants. The French have committed to changing their laws so police can stop the boats in shallow waters, but have yet to make good on this pledge. Chris Philp, shadow home secretary, has urged the Government to suspend its 12-year fishing deal with the French until they intercept migrants at sea and stop the Channel crossings. Ms Caroit, who is vice president of the National Assembly's foreign affairs committee, said it was 'unfair' to say France had no political will to stop the boats. But she said: 'One thing is for sure, the numbers are increasing, but they have been increasing since Brexit, after the UK is no longer part of the Dublin Regulation and has a very weak asylum policy.' Credit: PA The Dublin agreement enabled the UK to return migrants to the EU if it was shown they had travelled through a European country and had failed to claim asylum there. However, no replacement was negotiated in the Brexit talks, although Sir Keir Starmer is seeking to agree a similar scheme. Challenged over the low stop rate of the French, Ms Caroit admitted that 'once the boats are in the water, it is impossible for the French policemen to actually intercept them.' She said the legal change – allowing police to intervene in shallow waters – would make a difference. 'It's a matter of legislation, but it's also a matter, again, of what happened after Brexit. Before it was easier to have the migrants return,' she said. 'We need increased co-operation between the UK and the French, the authorities and policemen, so that we can actually have a clear division of what can be done when the boats are in the water. 'And most importantly, it is important to deter these boats from actually wanting to go to the UK. Because unless we stop this, we can put more money into it, [but] there will be more boats.' Asked about the UK being an El Dorado, she said: 'It is. It's a complex situation, people want simple solutions, but you have to go to Calais and see what it looks like, and how many boats you have and how many people are waiting to go to the UK. 'So, of course, there is a part that can be improved in France, and we're working towards that. But I also think the UK needs to take responsibility, because it is so attractive to these migrant routes as of today, and we actually need to work together instead of blaming each other.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Euronews
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
French farmers protest as parliament clashes over agriculture bill
Hundreds of farmers descended on Paris on Monday, bringing their tractors - and their frustration - straight to the gates of the French National Assembly. Their goal was to support a divisive piece of legislation tabled by far-right MP Laurent Duplomb. The Duplomb agricultural bill promises to ease what many in the agricultural field see as suffocating administrative constraints. It would make it easier to obtain construction permits for livestock facilities and water reservoirs, and re-authorise the temporary use of certain pesticides such as acetamiprid; a neonicotinoid insecticide banned in France since 2018. While still allowed in other European Union countries, acetamiprid has raised alarms among environmentalists and beekeepers due to its impact on pollinators and potential health risks for humans. The bill was scheduled for debate, followed by a vote in the lower house of parliament on Monday. But opposition lawmakers, mostly from the green and left-wing parties, submitted around 3,500 amendments in an attempt to delay proceedings. With debate threatened by legislative gridlock, centrist, conservative, and far-right lawmakers passed a motion to dismiss debating the bill in parliament. The proposal now moves to a joint committee of seven senators and seven members of parliament (MPs) - most of them supportive of the farmers' demands. The committee will have to agree on a common version that will then be subjected to a final vote by MPs - this time, without the possibility of any amendments. The move has infuriated the left, which has announced plans to file a no-confidence motion against the government in response. For many of the farmers present at the protest, this bill represents a chance to ease mounting pressures, both economic and regulatory. Clément Patoir, a 19-year-old grain farmer, described how bureaucratic red tape is driving young people away from the craft. "There are fewer young people who want to become farmers nowadays. Many children of farmers have to constantly hear about their parents struggling with regulations. It is a complicated job, you work long hours, and you're not necessarily rewarded." "The majority of French farmers are trying to survive. What we all want is to live and not survive. So, fewer constraints and simplification would be much appreciated," Patoir told Euronews. Another young sugar beet farmer, Pierrick, said that the bill is about maintaining production levels. The acetamiprid pesticide is considered essential by many sugar beet and hazelnut producers. "Today, all the methods of production to produce as much as we can are gradually being taken away from us. In addition, we always have administrative constraints that add to our workload ... But to maintain the levels of production that we have, no, there is no alternative today that works," he explained. Supporters of the bill argue that easing restrictions will be critical to avoiding reliance on imports and keeping France's agricultural sector competitive. But environmentalists and left-wing lawmakers see the bill as dangerous. Among those gathered in Paris to oppose it was Gabriel Bertein, a left-wing mayor, who warned of long-term damage to biodiversity and soil health. "If this kind of bill does pass, this will be a sign we are going backwards. We open the doors to more use of pesticide products that we know are dangerous to life," he told Euronews while being heckled by a group of farmers. He added that state funding should shift toward more sustainable farming practices. "We must stop helping and subsidising a type of intensive agriculture that is not going in the right direction. There is an urgent need to change direction, to focus on these topics." Demonstrations are also planned in Brussels next week, targeting the EU's environmental rules and green policy agenda. Greece has said it has completed work on an undersea power cable connecting the mainland to the island of Crete, a key step in its ambitious plan for a wider expansion of the grid that will eventually include Cyprus and Israel. The €1 billion link spanning 330 kilometres was plugged in on Saturday and is expected to be fully operational this summer, Greece's grid operator said. The project, for which the European Union provided the bulk of funding through grants and loans, aims to bolster energy diversification after after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Athens hopes to extend the link, dubbed the Great Sea Interconnector, to Cyprus and Israel by the end of the decade. The project is also a move towards Crete being able to replace fossil fuel-based power generation with renewables, government officials said. "Crete is becoming a central pillar for the country's energy transition," Energy Minister Stavros Papastavrou said. "We're moving forward with the development of an integrated network of electrical interconnections, strengthening our country as a strategic energy hub in the Eastern Mediterranean." However, the wider project has been complicated by financial disagreements and an ongoing maritime dispute with Turkey. Greece and Egypt also want to establish a separate undersea link on a similar timetable that would bypass the island of Crete and connect directly to the Greek mainland. The undersea cables to Crete have been laid at a depth of 1,200 metres and will support a capacity of 1,000 megawatts using high-voltage direct current transmission systems. Supervised by a subsidiary of Greece's Independent Power Transmission Operator, the project involved private contractors Siemens Energy of Germany, Greek construction firm TERNA and the Italy-based Prysmian Group cable company, among others.
El Chorouk
05-05-2025
- Politics
- El Chorouk
French MPs call on Paris to repent and to recognize the May 8th 1945 heinous massacres in Algeria
The French National Assembly, the lower chamber of parliament, submitted a list signed by 71 deputies, calling on the French state to officially recognize and explicitly condemn the horrendous massacres committed on May 8, 1945 against Algerians in Setif, Kherrata, Guelma and neighboring areas, as a state crime committed against an unarmed people who demanded freedom, dignity and equality. According to the text of the proposal dated May 5, 2025, seen by Echorouk the bloody repression that took place on May 8, 1945, while France was celebrating its victory over Nazism, is another face of barbarism, this time in a colonial garment, practiced against the Algerian people who came out in peaceful demonstrations demanding legitimate rights, in line with the universal principles established by the United Nations Organization and the wave of liberation of peoples. These massacres began with the assassination of a young man, Bouzid Saal, for merely raising the Algerian flag, followed by a systematic and widespread repression, under orders from the highest French authorities, including the bombing of entire villages, mass executions, and the physical liquidation of unarmed civilians, making the French state fully responsible for these heinous crime, the signatories of the list noted. These practices were not isolated or exceptional, but rather fall within the policy of collective punishment adopted by the French occupation since its invasion of Algeria in 1830, towards a people it considered inferior and referred to as 'natives,' in a clear enshrinement of a discriminatory, racist and arrogant system. The deputies explained that the brutal repression continued for days on end, culminating in the region of Guelma, where French Deputy Governor Andre Achiar supervised the formation of local militias that carried out field liquidation operations that killed thousands of Algerians, while the evidence was covered up and the work of the investigation committee assigned to General Tubert was obstructed. The document stressed that serious academic and historical works agree that the number of victims amounted to tens of thousands of martyrs, which makes it the duty of the French Republic to officially recognize that what happened is a state crime committed against civilians, and completely contradicts the values it claims to defend. The deputies cited the testimony of French General Duval, who said after the massacres: 'I have given you ten years of peace, but everything must change in Algeria,' in a clear acknowledgment of the deep impact these heinous atrocities had on the relationship between France and the Algerian people. They also recalled that the first official recognition by the French authorities did not occur until 2005, when the French ambassador to Algeria at the time, Hubert Collin de Verdier, described what happened as an 'unforgivable tragedy.' They considered that the time has come for a full political recognition issued by the French Parliament, in order to turn the page of denial and start writing a common history on the basis of truth and justice. The proposal called for the full opening of documents and archives related to these tragic events, the establishment of an official national day to commemorate the horrific massacres of May 8, 1945, and their inclusion in French educational programs, in addition to supporting the process of historical reconciliation and mutual recognition between France and Algeria. The deputies concluded by calling on the French government to strengthen joint work with Algeria in the field of memory and history, including the May 8 massacres, which constituted a pivotal moment in the Algerian national struggle against the brutal yoke of colonization.
El Chorouk
04-05-2025
- Politics
- El Chorouk
French Far-Right Incites The European Union Against Algeria
The French National Assembly (the lower house of parliament) witnessed a hysterical campaign led by deputies from the right and far-right against Algeria, exploiting the case of the writer Boualem Sansal in an attempt to impose political and judicial guardianship over a sovereign state, through a series of shocking amendments to a draft resolution that was supposed to be symbolic, but turned into a crude political pressure card. This torrent of delirium, hatred, and blatant interference in Algeria's internal affairs came after amendments submitted on Thursday, May 2, 2025, which 'Echorouk' reviewed, to a text by the Foreign Affairs Committee that had been adopted by the European Affairs Committee regarding the proposal submitted by Deputy Constance Le Grip and other members, concerning a European resolution calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Boualem Sansal. In this context, deputies from the 'Les Républicains' and 'Rassemblement National' parties proposed amendments to the draft text, including a clause calling on the French government to suspend the granting of visas to Algerian citizens unless Sansal is released, which reflects a collective racist punitive approach targeting Algerians, especially families. The text of the amendment stated, 'We call on the French government to significantly reduce, or even suspend, the issuance of visas to Algerians, as long as Boualem Sansal has not been released.' The proponents of the amendments also did not hesitate to demand that the French government suspend 'alleged aid.' The accompanying arguments for the amendments included shocking condescending language, as the deputies accused the Algerian authorities of 'deliberately humiliating Sansal' and 'exercising unjustified political pressure on France,' considering Paris's stance on the issue 'weak and complicit,' and demanding a firm stance that includes 'using diplomatic and financial pressure tools.' It was also proposed to change the content of the paragraph on bilateral relations, by deleting the partnership formula and replacing it with a conditionality formula for the continuation of financial and executive cooperation based on 'Algeria fulfilling its commitments' in files such as the repatriation of Algerians deported from France, and the 'immediate release of Sansal.' In a new escalation that reflects a renewed colonial mentality, the proponents of the amendments from the right and far-right proposed a blatant amendment to the draft resolution, demanding that any future financial partnership between Algeria and the European Union be linked to respecting purely French conditions, foremost among them the file of repatriating Algerian migrants who have been issued deportation orders from French territory, and what they call the 'immediate release' of the writer Boualem Sansal. The proposed amendment noted that the European Union granted Algeria approximately 213 million euros between 2021 and 2024 within the framework of what is known as the 'Multiannual Financial Framework,' and this figure was later exploited as a political blackmail tool by French deputies attempting to impose impossible conditions on Algeria, as if European support is a favor conditioned on political loyalty or diplomatic submission. This far-right discourse not only reflects the hypocrisy of the French right-wing elites but also shows frantic attempts to turn European funding into a new colonial stick to be raised in the face of independent states, foremost among them Algeria, which has refused, and continues to refuse, to be under Paris's guardianship, no matter how it changes its pressure tools or disguises itself in the cloak of Europe.
El Chorouk
29-04-2025
- Politics
- El Chorouk
French Parliament Reopens Algerian Memory's Wounds With a New Harkis Law
A new French provocation against Algeria and Algerians has emerged, through the gate of the Harkis, amid unprecedented diplomatic tensions between the two countries. A group of members of the French National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, submitted a new draft to reopen the wounds of Algerians' collective memory by broadly recognising the 'harkis' and their families and compensating them with significant sums of money. This new provocation came through a draft law submitted to the French National Assembly, dated April 17, 2025, by 13 members of the lower house, checked out by Echorouk, through which Paris intends to reevaluate the amount of financial compensation awarded to Harkis and their families who lived in internment camps between March 20, 1962, and December 31, 1975, because the government considers them victims of discriminatory policies and systematic isolation within the French soil. Article 1 of the draft law stipulates that every Harki or one of his children who lived during this period in the camps is entitled to reassessed financial compensation, with each year or part thereof counted as part of the years due. Article 2 stipulates an amendment to Article 3 of the law of February 23, 2022, establishing a new national committee for the distribution of compensation. This committee will determine the amounts due to each individual based on the length of stay and living conditions within the camps. The document also emphasised that the damages to be compensated include, in addition to poor housing and deprivation of basic rights, arbitrary detention, ill-treatment by camp supervisors, lack of basic healthcare, and the failure of social assistance to reach beneficiaries directly. Article 3 stipulated amending the composition of the National Committee, including, in addition to MPs and official representatives, three members from the Harkis themselves, to ensure an 'independent voice' within the decision-making body. This constituted a precedent in granting a group that collaborated with colonialism new institutional weight within the French administrative system. Article 4 requires the French authorities to ensure that all compensation claim files are processed within six months from the date of submission, holding the state responsible for any delays resulting from a lack of human or material resources. It has been proposed to recruit 100 additional employees to monitor the files, given that approximately 14,000 files are currently pending. Article 5 proposed the establishment of a committee to oversee the financial management of the compensation fund, composed of representatives from parliament, the government, harki associations, and independent experts. This committee would submit a detailed annual report to the French parliament. To spare the French public treasury the burden of the amounts due from the revaluation of compensation, Article 6 stipulates the creation of an additional tax on tobacco sales, the proceeds of which will be directed to a compensation fund for harkis and their children. The dangerous aspect of the new text is that it does not limit to material compensation, but rather moves towards attempting to establish what is called 'full citizenship' for the 'harkis,' who lost their nationality under French Order No. 62-825 of July 21, 1962, which had set a short deadline for confirming their retention of French nationality. The drafters of the proposal considered this measure to be a 'voluntary political deprivation' of nationality, requiring moral compensation and full recognition.
