Journal De Bruxelles - Hardline French interior boss stirs controversy just days into job

The government needs to expand its "legal arsenal" and build more prisons, said Bruno Retailleau. And "all measures" must be used to bring down immigration.

Retailleau, 63, the only high-profile arrival into President Emmanuel Macron's new government, nailed his conservative colours to the mast just days after becoming interior minister.

His appointment as the "premier flic de France" ("France's top cop") is emblematic of the rightward shift of the government under new Prime Minister Michel Barnier following this summer's legislative elections that resulted in a hung parliament.

Like Barnier, Retailleau does not come from Macron's centrist movement but the traditional right-wing Republicans Party (LR) and even then from its most conservative side.

Formerly head of LR lawmakers in the upper house Senate, the always crisply dressed Retailleau carved out a reputation as a hardliner on social issues.

He opposed gay marriage, the inscription of the right to abortion in the French constitution and, most recently, new legislation on the right to die.

The post of interior minister in France has long been seen as a launch pad for tough-talking politicians.

Nicolas Sarkozy used the post to become president, Manuel Valls went on to become prime minister and Retailleau's predecessor Gerald Darmanin, 41, makes no secret of his ambition.

Unlike them, Retailleau is not seen as harbouring presidential ambition.

But he has made clear his goals for his tenure at interior ministry headquarters in the luxurious 18th-century mansion on Place Beauvau in central Paris.

- 'I believe in order' -

In his first television interview after taking office, Retailleau vowed on Monday to "take all measures" to "reduce immigration to France".

"I have an objective because like millions of French, I think massive immigration is not good for France and not even good for these migrants," he told the TF1 broadcaster.

Refusing to rule out France following Germany in restoring controls on its Schengen European borders, Retailleau also vowed to reform a social aid system that allows foreigners without residency the right to free medical care.

"I have three priorities. Restore order. Restore order. Restore order," Retailleau said Monday at his handover ceremony with Darmanin. His predecessor, in office since 2020, visibly bristled beside him.

Retailleau this week also confronted the fallout from the rape and murder of a 19-year-old student, named as Philippine, in the Bois de Boulogne park outside Paris.

The main suspect is a Moroccan man who was subject to a French deportation order. He was arrested in Switzerland.

Authorities need to "develop our legal arsenal to protect the French", said Retailleau. "If we have to change the rules, let's change them."

Traditional French right-wing politicians like Retailleau see themselves as the inheritors of the legacy of postwar leader Charles de Gaulle.

They are deeply mindful of the rising popularity of the French far right under three-time presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, and its encroachment on their territory.

Even if he has not yet outlined the specific reforms he is considering, "Bruno Retailleau will want to symbolise a new, tougher approach through a few measures, to set himself apart from Gerald Darmanin", said political scientist Bruno Cautres.

Sources have said that Barnier, a former EU Brexit negotiator appointed by Macron to end weeks of political crisis, insisted on the appointment of Retailleau as interior minister over that of another right-wing heavyweight Laurent Wauquiez.

There was even an initial plan by Barnier to create a ministry of immigration, although this was later scrapped.

- 'Further divide society' -

Retailleau's approach has already caused tensions within the government in a spat with new Justice Minister Didier Migaud, the only leftwinger in the government, after he complained that too many short sentences were not being served in jail and more prisons should be built.

Retailleau should know that "the judiciary is independent in our country", the justice minister responded.

An umbrella group of NGOs called the Federation of Solidarity Actors has already lashed out at Retailleau's stance on immigration, saying he was using the "words" of the "far right".

"We hope that Bruno Retailleau and the government will not employ approaches and measures that will only further divide society," Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, a former Socialist education minister who now heads the France terre d'asile (France Land of Asylum) NGO, told AFP.

P.Claes--JdB