France’s Interior Minister Manuel Valls said that there was a need to review the country’s migration policy in relation to Africans and questioned the compatibility of Islam and democracy. France has long been assimilating immigrants, but in recent years the situation has changed, and the locals are now the ones that are asked to adjust.
At a government meeting dedicated to the major challenges faced by France in 2025, Valls said that the “demographic pressure” from Africa forces France to revise its immigration policies. The Minister proposed to revise the law on family reunification that allows legal migrants in France to legally bring their spouses and minor children after 18 months in the country. Valls also added that over the years it would be good to prove that “Islam is compatible with democracy,” Le Parisien quoted the Minister. Valls’ several colleagues on condition of anonymity told the newspaper that the minister introduced “a real political problem.”
The Minister’s dissatisfaction is understandable, as France is constantly shaken by Muslim protests caused by the introduction of stringent restrictions on wearing burqas. The last large-scale event was held in July in Trapp commune, a suburb of Paris. Muslims burned dozens of cars and attacked a police station. The reason for the protest was a detention by a police officer of a Muslim woman who, contrary to the existing legislative ban, appeared in a public place wearing burqa. The woman’s husband, who tried to beat up a police officer, was arrested by the police.
