Robert Ménard: "Macron acknowledges reality, this boomerang that hits him in the face"

"Emmanuel Macron is more comfortable with generalities than with reality." Barely out of the TF1 TV studio where he debated this Tuesday evening with Emmanuel Macron on migration and security issues, the mayor (DVD, elected with the support of the RN) of Béziers, Robert Ménard, gave Le Parisien-Aujourd'hui en France his thoughts on one of the most heated exchanges of the evening.

"Emmanuel Macron is very good on the economy . He is less comfortable on the two black points of his mandates that I had to deal with. It is not true that his record is positive on the subject of migration and security when he has been in power for eight years!" exclaims the mayor.

Yet during the broadcast, the President of the Republic gave him an update on a wide range of issues. Provided that this is done "under the authority of the public prosecutor," the Head of State expressed his support for municipal police officers being able to carry out certain actions, such as referrals or fixed fines, which are currently reserved for national police officers.

On prisons, Emmanuel Macron promised to "accelerate" the construction of 5,000 prison places within two years and said he was in favor of "changing the rules" for the construction of the other 5,000 places currently planned. He said he was "ready to consider" Robert Ménard's proposal to "rent" prison places to countries with available places, such as the Netherlands or Spain.

The Head of State considered "entirely relevant" the proposal by his Minister of Justice, Gérald Darmanin, to have prisoners contribute to their detention costs and stressed the importance of judicial sentences being handed down "as quickly as possible after the events" to combat the feeling of impunity.

But on immigration, Emmanuel Macron distanced himself from the mayor of Béziers, who considered that the threshold of 500,000 legal foreigners in France each year was "too many." However, he supported him even though he is being prosecuted for refusing to marry a person under an OQTF ( Order of Foreigners Allowed to Marry a Person). "I hope that the bill (from the Senate, which would allow mayors to refuse this type of marriage) will be registered as quickly as possible" in the National Assembly, Emmanuel Macron defended.

A support that "a little surprised" Robert Ménard, he confided to Le Parisien-Aujourd'hui en France. "He didn't just say there was a problem there. But he could have done that years ago," the mayor stated, concluding: "He's taking note of reality, this boomerang that hits him in the face..."