| 00:00 | | On Syria, do you welcome the fall of Bashar al-Assad? |
| 00:06 | | Do you fear the arrival of potential terrorists in France, of refugees? |
| 00:14 | | First of all, if you will, I am horrified that the Syrian people have the choice |
| 00:20 | | between Bashar al-Assad and the jihadists. |
| 00:24 | | I think that’s what is terrible. It’s that a very bad leader |
| 00:33 | | will be replaced by people whom, a priori, |
| 00:37 | | I consider to be dangerous for individual freedoms, |
| 00:41 | | for the freedom of women, for democracy, for freedom of expression. |
| 00:46 | | So that’s what’s terrible. And I’m a little surprised to see |
| 00:50 | | the Quai d’Orsay [France’s Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs] rejoice in a way — |
| 00:54 | | which in my opinion is inappropriate — about the jihadists coming to power. |
| 00:59 | | Since we have some examples from the past that allow us to see that the |
| 01:05 | | coming into power of the jihadists has never been synonymous with improvement for the people. |
| 01:11 | | So I remain, of course, cautious, especially since there are in these events |
| 01:17 | | a whole series of nations that have interests. Russia, of course, |
| 01:23 | | the United States, obviously Turkey, Israel. |
| 01:28 | | And so I think we have to be careful in the analysis that we can make of the situation. |
| 01:35 | | What I want is, of course, that the Syrian refugees who have been welcomed in Europe, |
| 01:40 | | but not only there, also in countries like Lebanon, |
| 01:44 | | like Jordan, can, by definition, return to Syria. |
| 01:48 | | Because you can’t be a refugee all your life. |
| 01:51 | | And when what pushed you to leave disappears, |
| 01:55 | | well, it’s true that coherence, logic, would like them to be able to return |
| 02:00 | | to their country to participate in its reconstruction. That’s what the government has to do today, |
| 02:04 | | to be firm enough on this matter? —Yes, by the way, many European governments |
| 02:09 | | have already announced that they are freezing Syrian asylum applications. |
| 02:15 | | That’s already a first step. But I think that now we have to organize their return to their country. |
