French PM Jeopardizes Budget Deal With Controversial Migration ‘Flooding’ Comment

France’s Socialists have pushed budget talks to the brink of collapse in response to controversial comments made by Prime Minister François Bayrou about migration.

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“Contributions from foreigners are a positive for a people, so long as they remain proportionate,” he said in an interview with broadcaster LCI. “But as soon as you get the feeling of flooding, of no longer recognizing your own country, its lifestyle and its culture, the feeling of rejection appears.”

Speaking in the National Assembly on Tuesday, Bayrou doubled down on his remarks, saying that in the French overseas territory of Mayotte and in certain regions of France, “the word flooding is the one that is the most precise.”

“It’s not the words that are shocking but the reality,” Bayrou said.

The left accused the prime minister of spreading far-right tropes concerning immigration. Even his allies, such as the centrist President of the National Assembly Yaël Braun-Pivet, have said they were uncomfortable with his choice of words.

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