French minister Bruno Retailleau pushes for stricter EU migration policy

As the newest minister to partake in the Council of the European Union, Frenchman Bruno Retailleau attended his first meeting of home affairs ministers on Thursday.

Before taking his first steps on the European stage, the French representative had immediately set his political stance: he wants a firmer approach to migration policy.

On his arrival in Luxembourg, the former president of the conservative Republicans party in the French parliament assured everyone that Europe would come together to protect its citizens “from migratory shocks.”

For European Policy Centre political analyst Eric Maurice, Retailleau is in line with the political guarantee he must provide within the minority French government, behind which the shadow of the far right constantly looms.

“Bruno Retailleau is a token given to the French right and the far right in terms of discourse since Bruno Retailleau is quite tough on migration issues,” Maurice told Euronews.

Following the parliamentary elections, no group obtained an absolute majority. The left-wing bloc, the New Popular Front, came out on top, ahead of the presidential camp, Ensemble, and the far-right National Rally.

The Republicans, who now hold the offices of the prime minister and interior minister, received 6% of the vote. This team’s political survival, which relies on the presidential centre and the Christian Democrats, therefore depends on the parties outside the coalition.

A ‘radically different world’

Having pushed for the European Pact on Asylum and Migration, adopted last spring after years of difficult negotiations, Retailleau is now calling for it to be implemented as quickly as possible, or even “in advance”.

The French minister also wants to review the Return Directive, whose guiding principle is to return all illegal immigrants to their country of origin or transit. This text, adopted in 2008, also sets the duration of detention and the treatment of minors.

Retailleau claimed the regulation was drafted and adopted “in a radically different world”.

“It is a misnomer because, in reality, the Return Directive prevents many people from returning,” he said.

In addition, the French interior minister “does not rule out any a priori solution” for transferring migrants to centres outside the EU along the lines of the agreement between Italy and Albania. “All innovative solutions must be used,” he insisted.

This radical approach is echoed across Europe. The far right is gaining ground at the polls in several member countries, Germany has reintroduced controls at its land borders, the Netherlands is reforming its asylum policy, and Hungary was fined 200 million euros by the EU Court of Justice in June on charges of “systematic and deliberate evasion” of European asylum policy.

Domestic target audience

“Perhaps Bruno Retailleau saw this as a political opportunity”, Maurice suggested.

“I think he has a mainly national vision. He is also someone who is not extremely well known on the national political scene. He was within the Senate, he was the leader of the right-wing group in the Senate.”

“But he needs to carve out a national political stature for himself. He needs to assert his political identity. I think we’re talking about a proactive stance to mark out his political territory within the coalition,” Maurice explained.

Retailleau also provoked controversy over the rule of law. He believes that, as a principle, it “is not intangible, nor sacred”, a comment quickly reframed by French Prime Minister Michel Barnier.

However, these comments seem to have won over Hungary’s PM Viktor Orbàn, who admitted to the press at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday that he had “a great deal of respect for” the French minister.