Paris: France’s foreign minister said Wednesday that he wanted “all” European countries to cooperate and start cutting back visas available to nationals of countries that refuse to take back illegal migrants expelled by Paris.
Jean-Noel Barrot spoke after an Algerian-born man went on a stabbing rampage in the eastern French city of Mulhouse at the weekend, killing one person and wounding several others in what President Emmanuel Macron called an “Islamist terrorist act.”
The 37-year-old suspect was on a terrorism watch list and subject to a deportation order.
France had attempted to expel him multiple times, but Algeria refused to cooperate, French authorities say.
“If a country does not cooperate with the French authorities, I will propose that all European countries restrict the issuing of visas at the same time,” Barrot told broadcaster France 2.
“When we do it on a national level, it doesn’t work unfortunately,” he added.
But if foreign governments cooperate, the European Union could consider reducing customs tariffs for such countries, Barrot proposed.
“It is a particularly powerful lever,” he said.
French authorities are seeking to tighten immigration policies and border controls, in a move emblematic of the right-ward shift in French politics.
“If we want our migration policy to be as effective as possible, there are many things that will be much more effective if we do it at a European level,” he said.
Prime Minister Francois Bayrou was set later Wednesday to chair a meeting on immigration controls.
Bayrou has called for a national debate on immigration and what it means to be French, suggesting that immigrants were “flooding” France.
France wants Europe cooperation on visas over expulsion of undocumented migrants
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France wants Europe cooperation on visas over expulsion of undocumented migrants
- European countries to cooperate and start cutting back visas available to nationals of countries that refuse to take back illegal migrants expelled by Paris
More than 1,700 Africans fighting for Russia, Ukraine says
- “We clearly see that Russia is trying to drag African citizens into a deadly war,” Sybiha said
- The African fighters came from 36 different countries spread across the continent
KYIV: More than 1,700 Africans are fighting for Russia in its war in Ukraine, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Wednesday, adding that Moscow was using deception to trick them into fighting.
Speaking alongside his counterpart from Ghana, Sybiha said that discussions were taking place with governments across Africa to prevent their citizens from being drawn into such schemes. Ghana will chair the African Union regional bloc next year.
“We clearly see that Russia is trying to drag African citizens into a deadly war,” Sybiha told a news conference. “According to our data, there are currently over 1,780 citizens from the African continent fighting in the Russian army.”
The African fighters came from 36 different countries spread across the continent, he added.
Russian authorities have denied illegally recruiting African citizens to fight in the armed forces.
However, reports of African men being lured into Russia with promises of jobs and ending up on Ukraine’s front line have become more frequent in recent months, creating tensions between Moscow and some of the countries involved.
Ghana’s Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said that many of the Africans fighting for Russia were victims of deception, lured on the dark web with the promise of ordinary jobs.
“They have no security background. They have no military background. They have not been trained,” Ablakwa said. “They were just lured and deceived, and then put on the frontlines.”
Ablakwa expressed solidarity with Ukraine and called for a ceasefire to end the war, which marked its fourth anniversary on Tuesday. He said that he would ask Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to release two Ghanaian prisoners of war, who were captured fighting for Russia.
Ghana would promote schemes to raise public awareness about trafficking networks deceptively recruiting for Russian forces during its presidency of the African Union, Ablakwa said.
