Vice President of the French Front National (FN), Florian Philippot, has been strongly criticised by Luxembourg's Minister of Foreign and European Affairs after travelling to Schengen on Saturday to lay a wreath to the memory of free movement and to celebrate the return of EU national borders.
Florian Philippot, who is also an MEP member of the Europe of Nations and Freedom Group, received condemnation from Minister Asselborn for his so-called 'provocative' and 'cynical' action in Schengen, the village in Luxembourg after which the Agreement allowing free, borderless passage between participating countries was named.
A statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs on Saturday 19 September 2015 chastised the incendiary action of Philippot and his fellow supporters, who carried signs declaring 'Schengen ça suffit! Stopper l'immigration massive' ('Schengen that's enough! Stop mass immigration'), by stating "The Schengen agreements are part of the European acquis and free movement is a fundamental freedom enshrined in the treaties".
The statement continued: "The agreements are now part of our daily lives and it is unthinkable that the facilities enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of travellers and cross-border workers in Europe are challenged by nationalist and reactionary thoughts and political actions".
The act by Florian Philippot was further denounced as a lack of understanding of the nature of the refugee crisis, with the statement concluding:
"The difficulties and challenges arising from the current migration crisis cannot be solved by closing the border and a return to uninformed reflexes: no country in Europe is able to face the crisis alone and the solution must be European. The reintroduction of checks at common borders between countries can only be timels and temporary and should be in accordance with the Treaties".
Photo by Jérémy-Günther-Heinz Jähnick/ Wikimedia (Florian Philippot)
