Elham Asaad Buaras
France’s far-right presidential hopeful, under fire over his previous endorsement of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Ukrainians with ties to France should be granted visas, unlike refugees fleeing conflicts in Arab Muslim nations.
Following the EU’s move to permit Ukrainians to reside and work in the 27-nation bloc for three years, Éric Zemmour warned, an “emotional response” could unleash a flood of refugees across Europe.
The United Nations says more than 2 million Ukrainians have already fled the country. Zemmour applauded Britain’s more stringent approach. Britain on March 7 rejected calls to ease visa requirements for Ukrainian refugees.
Zemmour, who has been convicted of inciting racial hatred in the past, said it was acceptable to have different rules for asylum seekers from Europe and the Arab Muslim world.
“It’s a question of assimilation,” said the television pundit turned politician.
“There are people who are like us and people who are unlike us. Everybody now understands that Arab or Muslim immigrants are too unlike us and that it is harder and harder to integrate them.”
“We are closer to Christian Europeans.”
Europe’s open-arm welcome to fleeing Ukrainians contrasts with the reluctance to accept large numbers of refugees from conflicts in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan, with some Arab refugees complaining of double standards.
