I recently spent a couple of weeks in France. Foreign travel is especially enlightening if you just kind of roam around–in a city, in the countryside. Like England, and really most countries, France is heavily rural, most of the country outside of cities is farms and forests, dotted with small villages and stone houses. Many of the villages appear to be in decline, lots of closed businesses, but they still have a charm. But what is really noticeable in France is the impact of all the migrants, most of whom came illegally. We spent several days in Bordeaux, southwestern France. Bordeaux is along a lovely, large river, and has what should be a very enjoyable path all along that river. Except that it is nothing but grafitti, trash and literal human filth. There are large numbers of African and Middle-Eastern men sitting around doing nothing. Whole neighborhoods are just decrepit. Other parts of Bordeaux are more charming and well-kept. This is a common condition in many French cities, really any that we have visited of any size, particularly near coasts.
The French have a massive migrant problem, exacerbated by their colonial legacy in Africa and the Middle East. It also appears to have the same issues as the US and England with younger people. Same vacant, purposeless look, same constant use of smartphones. We were in Paris for a couple of days at the end. Paris is a lovely city, fantastic architechture, wonderful museums and attractions. It too is grafitti-ridden and trash filled, just a shame to see the banks of the Seine and the river itself filled with plastic bottles, trash of all kinds and just filth. Maybe France could put all the migrants to work cleaning up the mess they are large contributors to.
Europe appears to be finally recognizing what a serious problem it has with the migrants–the crimes they commit, the mess they make, their lack of integration, their unwillingness to work, the burden they place on social services. A law was recently adopted by the European parliament to make it easier to deport these people and I anticipate that most countries will take advantage of that. The rise of conservative parties in almost every European country is fueled by concerns over the changes wrought by this large scale immigration. These countries have many other problems, but solving this one will free up a great deal of money to go to rebuilding economies and updating infrastructure.
