Macron says Rwanda-style schemes are a ‘betrayal’

Emmanuel Macron has criticised migration policies that involve sending people to African countries as “a betrayal of our [European] values”, just days after the UK government passed its Rwanda deportation bill.

The French president made the remarks in a wide-ranging speech yesterday aimed at warning Europe against overdependence on other countries for security and trade.

Turning to migration, he said he did not believe in “this model that some people want to put in place, which means that you go and look for a third country, for example in Africa, and send our immigrants there”.

He added: “This is a betrayal of our values and will lead us down the path of new dependencies on third countries.”

Macron did not mention Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda plan directly, but did not hold back in giving his views on Brexit. Britain’s departure from the EU was “an explosion whose negative effects, from what I can tell, have meant that today nobody dares to propose exits, neither from the Europe, nor from the euro”.

He also described the British as “natural allies” of the EU, saying defence treaties, such as the Lancaster House agreements, left “a solid foundation for partnerships” that had not been affected by Brexit.

The speech – delivered at Sorbonne University in Paris – focused heavily on defence, as Macron urged European leaders to respond to the “paradigm shift” of the war in Ukraine.