“Philippe sinks and locks himself away”: Villepin denounces the “moral and political shipwreck” of the Horizons candidate on immigration

Statements that don't pass muster. Dominique de Villepin denounced this Thursday the “moral and political shipwreck” of Édouard Philippe who linked the looting of October 17 to immigration. According to the former Prime Minister of Jacques Chirac, the Horizons candidate for the presidential election is running “after the National Rally”.

“Édouard Philippe is sinking and locking himself away,” declared the almost candidate for the presidential election on France 2. “The remarks he makes are an incitement to racism today,” he snapped. “We do not differentiate according to the French and even less when we are a candidate for the presidency of the Republic (…) We do not enter into a logic of identity,” criticized the former Prime Minister.

Wednesday during a trip to Zuydcoote in the North on the fight against illegal emigration to the United Kingdom, Édouard Philippe questioned: “There is a problem of integration in our country, and we would not have the right to say it?” “There are French people with immigrant backgrounds. And they are French. And they have the same rights as the French and the same duties. And we can talk about French people with immigrant backgrounds,” he got annoyed, denouncing “a kind of thought police imposed by the extreme left, imposed by Jean-Luc Mélenchon.”

He was questioned about the controversy arising from an interview with Le Point on October 27, four days after the racist attack in Trappes in which he affirmed that during the violence of October 17, “the over-representation of young people from immigrant backgrounds was obvious”. “When we think we're showing common sense, when we think we're saying the obvious, well from there, if we're not careful, we end up saying things that are dangerous for the Republic,” criticized Dominique de Villepin.