DOMINIC LAWSON: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron had a sulphurous exchange on Saturday, its impact now rippling out in waves.
The Year That Broke Emmanuel Macron’s Republican Front
The French president is facing a far right that has gained the upper hand in the country’s insidious culture wars. And he has only himself to blame.
Illustration by Richard A. Chance
On April 21, the far-right magazine
Valeurs
Actuelles launched the kind of perfectly timed volley that sends French
political and media life into overdrive. It took the form of an open letter,
what the French generally refer to as a “tribune.” Titled “For a return to
honor of our governors,” the tribune was signed by a group of high-ranking former
Mr Barnier said France should declare a moratorium on non-EU migration
Pause should last for between three and five years, he added, allowing France to evaluate and if necessary change its immigration policies
He also warned of terrorist networks which [infiltrate] migratory flows
Mr Barnier, EU s chief negotiator on Brexit, is now widely being tipped to enter the 2022 French presidential race as a rival to Macron