European Commissioner: “Islam Is Welcome. Immigration Is a
Moral Necessity”
Mr Barrot is a former deputy in the French National Assembly, from 1967 to 2004. He was one of the founders of today's UMP party, an institution that claims to be conservative. UMP is the party of Nicolas Sarkozy, who is known to the media and the world as a politician of the "Right." Barrot had previously supported Jacques Chirac, and before that had been a leader of the centrist movement. In 2000 he was convicted in a French court of "abuse of confidence". The case involved the diverting of government money to his party. He received an eight month suspended prison sentence but was pardoned by Jacques Chirac. Since 2004, Barrot has been a European Commissioner. He is also a Vice President of the European Commission.
Below are excerpts from the Barrot interview:
Does Europe need immigration?
Barrot: Yes. The demographic situation of Europe requires a migration that must be concerted. Europe's mission is also a desire to facilitate exchanges between countries. Immigration is both an economic and a moral necessity. […]
Islam is perceived by some as incompatible with European values of democracy, peace and equality of the sexes. What is the EU's position with regard to this problematical situation?
B: This way of looking at Islam as antagonistic to European values is a totally partial and erroneous view. Islam is a monotheistic religion that seems to me to be compatible with our principles of laïcité. What is not compatible, are all the fundamentalists, not only Islamic, who wish to segregate and exclude other religions. As soon as pluralism is accepted by Islam, in any case in Europe, Islam is welcome. What IS true is that we will always fight against the fact that in the Islamic milieu Christian communities are not always respected as they should be. But that is characteristic of a certain number of Islamic States, it is not characteristic of Europe. Europe favors religious pluralism and it is obvious that if Islam wants to exist in Europe, it must accept this pluralism.
A reader of Yves Daoudal’s blog over the interview:
This guy [Barrot] is the archetype of the majority of our elite. He is himself the son of a distinguished father, a deputy, he has been minister several times, he helped create the UMP, etc... What he thinks, what he says is the reflection of what all those in power think and say. That is what is terrifying. These people are burying France and her people ("the demographic situation in Europe requires a migration that must be concerted"), without even considering the issues of French birthrate, abortion, French identity, her religion.I loved this sneaky attack ("...all fundamentalists, not only Islamic...") against traditional Catholics.
Jacques Barrot uses the term "migration", a word I see more and more as a substitute for "immigration." I guess the latter sounds more "discriminatory" than the former which, in its vagueness, refers to a natural and predictable process. When he does use "immigration" he speaks of it as a "moral" good, hence to be against it is to be immoral.
Here are a few more excerpts from the interview at Café Babel:
Early in October, [German] Chancellor Angela Merkel thanked the first immigrants , during the ceremony "Germany Thanks You." Can you conceive of such an event on a European scale?
Barrot: There are many such symbolic acts that could be imagined to show the immigrants that they really have a place here. We will probably work out this type of ceremony when we have written the new directive on the conditions for welcoming refugees.
The European policy of immigration is not founded on gratitude. Critics reproach you for constructing a "European fortress".
B: We have emerged from a security-driven period when borders had become an obsession. Today, the pact on immigration that the French presidency (of the EU) has had adopted is a balanced agreement where one finds both the legitimate desire to turn away illegal immigrants and that of a Europe more dynamic in the way it welcomes immigrants.
[...] Concretely, how did you convince [Spanish Prime Minister] Zapatero to sign the immigration pact since Spain benefits fully from immigration?
B: Mr. Zapatero, like the majority of heads of State, knows very well that what happens in one of the member States has an effect on the others, and that the States are condemned to stick together in solidarity. [...]
I like the word "condemned".
He goes on in the interview to describe how immigration will be strictly regulated so that each EU member state can determine the number of immigrants it needs and each donor State (African or Asian) can determine the number of skilled workers it can spare. He says that forcing illegals to return home is not to criminalize them, pointing out that the new directive will outline the appeals process they will be entitled to, and will monitor the conditions in which they are detained (i.e., confined in some kind of prison). He also believes that they should be induced to leave voluntarily in exchange for compensation. In other words, they will not be sent home?
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