After scenes of chaos in several French cities during the October 17 protests, reactions from France’s traditional European allies remained generally muted.
Only a segment of the European right, notably far-right and conservative leaders, seized the opportunity to criticize current migration policies. These political actors consider that social problems, such as those leading to the protests, are linked to what they view as overly lenient migration management.
According to Sylvain Kahn, professor at Sciences Po and European Union specialist, this trend is recurrent: “Whenever there is a social problem, the European right blames migration policies,” he explains in an analysis published by RFI.