It is unclear whether De Fournas, a member of the party of the very right-wing Marine Le Pen, addressed his statement directly to Bilongo. The pronoun ‘him’ and plural ‘they’ sound very similar in the French language. Bilongo himself, who was born in France, says that De Fournas judged him “by the color of my skin”. “I did not expect that this would ever happen to me in the French parliament,” said the left-wing parliamentarian.
An investigation has been launched into De Fournas’ statement. He himself says that his statement referred to migrants who flee to Europe by boat, according to him they must return to the African continent. Le Pen has stated in a response on Twitter that she supports her party colleague.