Immigration and Islam are two things that characterize every election campaign in France 

Eric Zemmour's comments raise concern for immigrants, The French far-right threatens immigrants if he wins the elections.

PARIS - Immigration and Islam are two old crises that come back to every election campaign in France, where French presidential candidate Eric Zemmour raised strong-worded statements against the "Great Replacement" and "criminal immigrants", but these statements come in the context of a debate about immigration and Islam is well-established. More in France than in other European countries.

The debate on these two topics falls within France's problematic colonial history, which resulted in the chaotic integration of major groups of foreign origin, and stems from a strict concept of secularism, experts explained.

Political expert Pascal Perino said that "the immigration element is especially present in France, because it stirs the difficult memory of the Algerian war" and the accompanying deaths, acts of torture and mass return to the homeland, which "left deep traces in the collective unconscious."

By way of comparison, the expert pointed out that "Germany did not fight Turkey and Belgium did not fight Morocco," referring to the two large groups of Turkish and Moroccan origin in these two countries, respectively.

Emmanuel Comte, a researcher at the Center for International Affairs in Barcelona, ​​explained that France also faced "more pressure from immigration" than other colonial powers, and suffered from shortcomings in receiving immigrants, especially in terms of jobs.

Although immigrants benefited from a “flexible market” in Britain, and were considered “invited workers” in Germany, France, for its part, limited their access to permanent jobs “from the seventies and eighties,” giving preference to its citizens, according to experts.

Meanwhile, Comte noted that she confined them to "ghettos". The suburbs that were built in France after World War II emptied of the middle classes, and only the poorest, mostly immigrants or their children, remained in these neighborhoods that gradually emptied of shops and public services.

With depriving them of professional opportunities, some plunged into crime, then the immigrants turned into a mere “nuisance”, according to a section of the citizens, a stereotype fueled by the “political campaign” that was organized against them.

Political expert Jean Garrig pointed out in this regard that France has "a far-right tradition dating back to the late nineteenth century, which we have today as its heirs."

In 1972, Jean-Marie Le Pen, a veteran of the Indochina and Algeria wars, founded the National Front.

And if his daughter Marine, who reached the second round of the presidential elections in 2017 before being defeated by Macron, softened her speech, candidate Zemmour adopts a more extreme line to the right, doubling the extreme statements about immigration and Islam.

In parallel, the process of integrating foreigners has become “longer and more difficult under the pressure of radical Islam,” according to Didier Lesci, head of the body in charge of regulating reception and integration in France.

This pressure provokes a clash with the secularism established by the 1905 law on the separation of religion and state, which restricted faith to a special sphere.

"France is the secular villain," said Boyan Tamimi Arab, a researcher in religious studies at Utrecht University, considering that this country's concept of secularism is too strict.

Stephen Fielding, professor of political history at the University of Nottingham, pointed out that Islam was never mentioned in the United Kingdom, although the rejection of immigration was a central theme in the Brexit campaign in 2016, explaining that national identity in Britain is a more “flexible” and “less rigid” concept than in Britain. France.

In the British model designed in the form of the coexistence of different groups one by one, religions are present in the public space, unlike France, where the foreigner must integrate and identify with the national model.

If immigrants benefited from a “flexible market” in Britain, and were considered “invited workers” in Germany, France, for its part, limited their access to permanent jobs “from the seventies and eighties” giving preference to its citizens

"There are Muslims in high positions in the Conservative Party, right up to the government of Boris Johnson, without that prompting any reaction," Fielding said.

In Germany, one million immigrants were welcomed in 2015 amid a wave of national solidarity, which caused the strong rise of the Alternative for Germany (the far-right) party in a country where taboos linked to the Nazi past had until then prevented the emergence of a strong extremist party.

But in the 2021 elections, this party focused its campaign on the Covid-19 epidemic. Daniela Schwarzer, director of the “Open Society” NGO, explained that “the issue of identity was not the issue in Germany,” where the brunt of the “shock” caused by jihadist attacks is much lower. of them in France.

In Austria, by contrast, concerns about national identity led to the election of a far-right chancellor in 1999. Parties based on this wave of rhetoric joined government coalitions in Norway and Denmark.

In Italy, Matteo Salvini, the leader of the far-right, was, until a short time, still deputy prime minister, which “reveals the importance of the issue of immigration” in this country, according to Antonio Sineiro, an expert on the sociology of migration at the University of Salento, at a time when Italy, which was once He went as an emigration country, one of the main gateways for illegal immigrants to enter Europe.

"We need a Christian Russia to confront China", the resignation of the commander of the German Navy

Commenting on his resignation, Schonbach said, "As a devout Christian Catholic, I think we need a Christian Russia against China."

Germany's Navy chief, Admiral Kay Achim Schönbach, has resigned after calling NATO accusations that Russia was preparing to invade Ukraine "foolish."

Commenting on his resignation, Schonbach said, "As a devout Christian, Catholic, I think we need a Christian Russia against China."

"It doesn't matter if Putin himself is an atheist," he added.

According to a video clip circulating on the Internet, Admiral Schonbach said during a study group meeting held Friday in New Delhi that what Russian President Vladimir Putin wants is "respect".

"It's easy to give him the respect he wants, and he probably deserves it too," he said, describing the idea that Russia wants to invade part of Ukraine as "foolish."

The German government distanced itself from Schönbach's statements, with a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, in a call with Agence France-Presse, said that these statements "do not correspond at all to the position of the German Defense Ministry."

He added that Schonbach would have to "take a stand" and justify his statements "in front of the chief of staff of the armies."

The naval chief's comments came amid the acute crisis between Russia and the West over Ukraine.

The two sides are currently making intense diplomatic efforts to avoid a deterioration of the situation, at a time when Moscow is massing tens of thousands of soldiers on the border with Ukraine.

After Schonbach wrote in a tweet that his words only expressed his own position, he apologized, before resigning from his military position.

The magazine "Der Spiegel" reported that Schönbach's statements, whose path until now has been flawless, aroused strong discontent at the top of the government of Social Democratic Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

She stated that before noon Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht held a video conference with Chief of Staff Eberhard Zorn to determine how to address this issue.

After its refusal to send weapons to Ukraine, Kiev accuses Berlin of "encouraging Putin"

Germany announced that it would hand over a field hospital to Ukraine next month, but it rejected the idea of ​​militarily supporting Kiev, which angered the latter, which accused Berlin of "encouraging" Russian President Vladimir Putin.

On Saturday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba accused Germany of "encouraging" Russian President Vladimir Putin after Berlin refused to deliver weapons to Kiev, which fears a Russian invasion.

Russia is massing tens of thousands of its soldiers on the Ukrainian border, making Westerners fear an invasion of Kiev.

In this context, the United States, Britain and the Baltic states announced sending weapons to Ukraine, including anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles.

For its part, Germany announced Saturday that it will hand over a "field hospital" to Ukraine in February, rejecting the idea of ​​sending weapons to the former Soviet republic.

"Today, the unity of the West against Russia is more important than ever," Kuleba wrote on Twitter.

He stressed that "German partners must stop undermining unity with similar statements and actions, and from encouraging Vladimir Putin to launch a new attack on Ukraine."

Kuleba added that Ukraine is "grateful" to Germany for its support, but "its current statements are disappointing."

"We have previously provided artificial respirators," German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said Saturday, noting that her country was "treating seriously wounded Ukrainian soldiers in the German army (hospitals)."

But she pointed out that "the handing over of weapons to (Ukraine) will not contribute at present" to defusing the crisis.

While denying that it orchestrated any attack on its neighbor, Russia stresses that de-escalation requires written security guarantees, foremost of which is the non-acceptance of Ukraine's membership in NATO.