Macron provokes diplomatic incident with Bulgaria, Ukraine
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Macron: “I prefer people who came from Guinea and Côte d’Ivoire who are here and do the job (legally), rather than Bulgarian or Ukrainian trafficking networks.” Sarantis Michalopoulos / Euractiv.com
The Elysée has been in a damage-control mode since then, answering to criticism both internally and externally. Many blasted his choice to give an interview to a far-right outlet, and some commented that right-wing ideas now take the lead in France.
“We need to speak to everyone”, the Elysée said.
“I prefer people who came from Guinea and Côte d’Ivoire who are here and do the job (legally), rather than Bulgarian or Ukrainian trafficking networks,” Macron said, triggering harsh reactions in Bulgaria and Ukraine.
Macron was referring to the fact that in France, it is difficult to find French people willing to wash dishes in restaurants. Many interpreted that France preferred immigrants from its former colonies, rather than from Europe.
After the country’s Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva said the statement was “offensive”, Bulgaria summoned the French ambassador to Sofia to provide an explanation. Bulgarian President Rumen Radev said Macron “will find it hard to achieve EU leadership with such unmeasured comments”. Prime Minister Boyko Borissov spoke with Macron over the phone and said he hoped the French president would make it up by supporting Bulgaria for joining ERM II, the waiting room for the eurozone.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also summoned the French Ambassador in Kyiv. He reportedly explained that there were “no claims against citizens of Ukraine who travel to France” and that the President’s words were taken out of context.
Macron obviously wanted to say that legal migration was better than illegal migration. However, Bulgaria is a member state of the EU, and its nationals fully enjoy the “four freedoms”, including the free movement of labour.
Ukraine is not an EU member, but its nationals no longer need visas to go to France. Ukrainian citizens have the right to visit the Schengen countries without a visa for up to three months, which, however, does not entitle them to work.
It would have been a different issue if Macron had intended to say that Bulgarian or Ukrainian trafficking networks bring in third-country nationals to France, but in that case, he should have made it clearer. It is known that for years now the State Agency for Bulgarians Abroad has been involved in selling Bulgarian passports against bribes of the order of €5,000. Reportedly, such citizens have been detained in other EU countries, and their authorities have realised that these individuals do not even speak Bulgarian.
Perhaps that’s why the sharpest reaction in Bulgaria came from VMRO leader Krassimir Karakachanov, Deputy Prime Minister. Many suspect Karakachanov to have provided a political umbrella to the trafficking networks, if not more, for the passport trade.
EURACTIV France commented that Macron did not expect the magazine to publish a 12-pages long article with many comments and pictures of Marine Le Pen in the interview.
But as the right-wing journalists underlined in the article, Macron tried to convince them so hard that he was fighting against illegal immigration that he “overtook them on the right side”, by showing them that he was trying to send back home more illegal migrants than France used to.
According to the last poll published last week, both Macron and Le Pen have gained popularity since the presidential election in 2017, and both have support from around 28% of voters. However, both Macron’s and Le Pen’s parties attract a lot of hate from either side. Although no elections are planned before 2022, the government is obviously under pressure.
Meanwhile, Boyko Borissov’s GERB won Sofia’s mayorship. In the local elections run-off on Sunday, the current mayor of Sofia Yordanka Fandakova, from PM Boyko Borissov ‘s GERB party, was re-elected by 50% of the votes to 45% for Maya Manolova, supported by opposition forces. Overall, GERB won 16 out of the country’s 28 regions, while the main opposition force, the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) won four. DPS, the mainly ethnic Turkish party, won the region of Kardzhali, and different coalitions won seven regions. [More on the story: EURACTIV’s partner Dnevnik]
