Shutting borders after Paris attacks ‘victory for terrorists’, ambassador warns

The shutting down of national borders as a knee-jerk response to a deadly series of attacks in Paris on Friday would represent “a victory for the terrorists”, the French ambassador to Malta warned.

“Our immediate reaction to the attacks mustn’t be to lock ourselves and shut our borders, which is after all what the terrorists want us to do,” Beatrice le Fraper du Hellen said on Monday night’s edition of Reporter. “Rather, we must remember why Europe should welcome refugees; we should at least welcome them for children like [Aylan Kurdi] who did not deserve to drown after fleeing a war.”

The Islamic State militant group has claimed responsibility for a series of attacks on bars, restaurants, a concert hall and a stadium in Paris on Friday that left 129 people dead. When questioned by host Saviour Balzan whether the French government had foreseen this risk when it decided to conduct air strikes against IS, the ambassador warned against searching for such “short-term motivations”.

“Attacks on our Western values have been occurring for a long time, by a movement that exists to attack anything that represents tolerance, freedom, and dialogue,” le Fraper du Hellen said. “The long-term solution is for us to keep standing up for our principles and the democratic rule of law Some people have been arrested in relation to the attacks and they will be prosecuted in a court of law. This is the answer; for us to keep on fighting for our values. The danger is for us to start thinking that democracy is a failure.”

“We French are proud of our independent spirit, and indeed people flocked to the Place de la Republique today to lay flowers at a vigil. France is standing up, and we will never let our liberties be curtailed.”  

When questioned about anti-migrant and anti-Muslim statements passed by French far-right National Party leader Marine le Pen after the attacks, le Fraper du Hellen warned that the French government will not give in to any form of xenophobic demonstrations.

“People who use the French flag as a symbol to support racism and xenophobia against migrants are not acting in honour of the attack victims, but are attacking them again,” she said, while pointing out that the vast majority of IS targets are actually Muslims in Iraq and Syria.

The ambassador hailed the Maltese authorities for acting quickly in terms of security provided to the French embassy and community and for raising the Maltese flag at Castille at half-mast as a sign of respect.

“When we feel we are falling down, any gesture by Maltese citizens that helps us stand up is welcome,” she said, while praising President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca for not cancelling her weekend’s trip to Paris to address a conference in light of the attacks.

“The fact that she decided to go to Paris anyway without changing her programme in any way sent a very strong signal,” she said.