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Rabat – France’s Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire has sparked widespread controversy after accusing Maghreb citizens living in France of “illegally” sending social aid they receive from the French government to their relatives at home.
The minister’s statement, which he made on Tuesday in an interview with BFMTV, angered several figures from France’s left, who deemed his remarks “xenophobic” and “racist.”
“Our compatriots are fed up with seeing people receiving aid that they pay for themselves and sending them back to the Maghreb or elsewhere when they are not entitled to it,” Le Maire said. “The social model is made to protect the poorest, certainly not to send money illegally abroad.”
Le Maire’s remarks came one day after Emmanuel Macron’s televised speech, in which the president promised “strong measures” regarding the fight against social and tax fraud starting May.
“Fighting against all forms of crime, against all fraud, whether social or fiscal, will be at the heart of government action,” Macron said.
For many, it seemed that Le Maire had already gotten on board with Macron’s plans, with a focus on social fraud instead of tax fraud, which is more than ten times higher.
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Others described the move as a “desperate” attempt to distract citizens from the government’s unpopular pension reform, which has triggered nationwide protests in past months and led to a 30% drop in Macron’s popularity.
“Dear fellow Muslims or people from the Maghreb like me, get ready. In order to distract you, the government announces, through Bruno Le Maire, a new campaign to point the finger at you. Cold blooded,” Tweeted left-wing French politician Jean-Luc Melenchon.
For her part, Sandrine Rousseau, Member of French political party Europe Ecology retweeted a video of Le Maire’s appearance with BFMTV, captioning: “You could use a little dose of racism to start calming down …”
While she said that Macron is “right to want to track down fraudsters,” Rousseau argued that tackling tax fraud, which represents between €80 and 100 billion, should be far more important than social fraud, which is around €1 billion.
