The news that came from the eastern side of the Rhine, at first did not cause a shock in France, but after hundreds of thousands of Germans took to the streets, the most popular party in France first thought about it, and then the situation gained momentum.
It turned out that a few weeks ago a meeting of high-ranking functionaries of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD — right/ultra-right political party in Germany, founded on February 6, 2013 — Auth.) was held in Potsdam, not that secret, but in any case not particularly advertised. The idea of «remigration» was discussed there. According to the version of German politicians, foreigners, or even former foreigners, and now Germans, should be expelled to some “safe state” in North Africa. Even asylum seekers and citizenship seekers would be affected. In total, about 2 million people.
The position of the French «Rassemblement Nationale» is more moderate. Marine Le Pen and her party members believe that it is necessary to abolish the right of automatic or semi-automatic granting of French citizenship. Now it is enough to be born in France, to live there for 5 years, and then, at the age of 13, to request citizenship, i.e. not even «automatically»: to request — does not mean to receive.
By the way, this right has just been proposed to be abolished on Mayotte, a tropical island between Madagascar and Africa, which is an overseas department of France. Pregnant neighbors from Comoros moved there, gave birth to babies, became French and then it’s all clear. Allowances, moving to the metropolis and other pleasures.
«The National Rally» is against Jus soli, that is, the right to acquire citizenship at birth. But once a person has become French, no remigration can be applied to him, except when people with dual citizenship violate the rules of residence in France.
As soon as the story of the Potsdam meeting began to gain momentum, the Rassemblement Nationale (RN) decided to disassociate itself from the AfD. Both parties are part of the same faction in the European Parliament, Identity and Democracy. The Germans have 10 seats out of 63, while the French party has 18. Only Matteo Salvini’s Italian “League” has more. They have 24 seats. But both AfD and RN have every chance to almost double the number of seats in the June elections to the European Parliament. And the creation of a large group of extreme right-wingers is one of Marine Le Pen’s long-standing desires.
But by not reacting to the AfD’s statements, it is possible not only not to win the elections, but to lose a lot of voters gained in recent years.
«I declare that we will, if everything is confirmed, stand in absolute opposition to the AfD», said Marine Le Pen. — «We must discuss our differences and decide whether we can be allies in the upcoming elections».
Nevertheless, Le Pen is not going to make her disagreements with her German colleagues the main topic of her election campaign.
The meeting between the heads of the parliamentary groups took place. Alice Weidel, co-chair of the German party, denied at the meeting that the AfD was preparing a citizenship revocation project. After the meeting, Jordan Bardella, president of the National Rally, demanded a written explanation as well.
«Yes, we will send foreigners home. Millions of times», writes in social media Bundestag deputy René Springer. — «And this is no ‘secret plan’. It’s a promise. For our security. For the preservation of our identity. For Germany».
Le Pen has long distanced herself from her father’s slogans like, «When we come, they will go». And so the party has become more attractive to those who would be reluctant to say openly that they voted for the National Rally. And there is somebody else to fill Jean-Marie Le Pen’s niche.
There are many supporters of the idea of the purity of French identity. On social networks there are posts like, «We’ve often made fun of their strange language, but when the Germans wake up, it’s impressive». And even on a video game forum frequented by audiences aged 18–25, you’ll find things like, «Keep it up, Germany. Make the golems finally open their eyes». By the latter is meant not only a creature from Jewish mythology, but also a character from the game Minecraft.
This is not surprising at all. The idea of «remigration» is a classic of the French extreme right. It was preached by the writer Renaud Camus, known as the creator of the Great Replacement Theory. According to it, the European ruling classes deliberately replace the white population with migrants.
The term appeared in the tenth years of our century, when the participants of the former European Social Movement, which just in these years transformed into a political party, became active. It was mainly popularized on the Internet: collages of airplanes, foreigners boarding them, with relevant slogans were published there. The participants were repeatedly prosecuted for inciting racial hatred.
And most recently, Eric Zemmour, the French presidential candidate in the last election, promised to create a Ministry of Remigration. His party’s website displayed banners with polemical slogans and airplanes carrying foreigners, of course.