It's our own misunderstanding of French history to think that this is particularly unusual about France. Even in 'The Day of the Jackal' you get a glimpse of some of this. Then largely Algeria. The military upset with De Gaulle, The Pieds Noir protesting (the French Algerians), I think Le Buerre (I hope I haven't offended by getting this wrong) were mixed race people wanting equal rights in France. A whole lot of protests, violence, bombs, riots, kidnappings - and also political shenanigans, particularly from De Gaulle (who was a nationalist). Those aren't exactly the only times either. Even Sarkozy should be in prison! That's nowhere near the end of the political scandal, but, as you say - we hear little about it. (For an eye opener look into the sports minister and French rugby). France is famously corrupt but seems to have, wrongly, thrown off that perception recently.
My reasoning for hearing so little is the pro EU press. The EU is performing badly in loads of ways - vaccines and lockdown the latest. France is the EU. But it's obviously not in our interest to hear about that. Look at the headlines with any Boris gaffe - they pounce on that. Yet, we have the EU gasping for air, searching for scapegoats and struggling to survive. Not a hint of it in the press. Ask your average EU citizen how they are finding life currently. Massive undercurrent of discontent EU wide. Even the Irish grudgingly think Britain is performing much better than they are. Of course, the news won't tell you that though.

Red and Blue Army!

Well, that's simply inefficiencies in the UK HO and immigration services, border 'controls'. Even as an EU citizen, moving from one country to another legally requires registering with the local immigration office after being there for 90 days. There are stiff penalties for not doing that and they can be retrospective and punitive. Why didn't the UK look at the many successful immigration services within the EU that enforce this requirement on a regular basis, learn from it and implement it? I've been through the registration process in 7 EU countries already, it's quite simple to do and makes sense. You get an ID card that's a requirement in doing almost anything, renting an apartment, buying a car, opening a bank account etc. It stops a lot of fraud and theft in these transactions. It's a very good system but no one can force a country to enforce it and if they don't then they suffer the consequences.

Edited by Orange1290 (13 May 2021 10.32am)

Pro China, EU & Palestine

Well, you won't get very far in doing anything unless you register. Take Portugal for example, where I registered for a fiscal number last year. It's free, you go into the nearest office, show your passport/Id, existing address in your existing country of residence and some proof like a utility bill in your name. It's nothing to do with taxation. However, to rent a property, buy a property, buy a car, open a bank account, in fact do pretty much anything, you'll be asked for you fiscal number document. Sure, if you want to live totally out of society you could skip this but that will be a very tiny minority of people. The vast majority will need this. Once you get it, they know who you are, where you've come from and the date you applied. This isn't done at immigration but as and when you need it, which for anyone moving to Portugal is normally the first thing you go and get. Many EU countries have similar or variants of this. The UK should have done this decades ago.

Pro China, EU & Palestine

Britain was just trying to have EU Freedom of Movement in its truest form. All the other states should be ashamed of themselves for building a wall of bureaucracy. UK: Champions of free movement.

Red and Blue Army!

I am well aware of that but old style Italian ID cards can still be used until they are eventually phased out. These type of cards should never have been used for ID purposes was my point.
Agreed the new ID cards are very good, but obviously do not have so many security safeguards as most passports

Why? Simply because member countries of the EU can still exercise their sovereign rights? Freedom of movement works very well. I've moved several times for living and working and traveled within the EU every week for work, seamlessly. Sure there are checks and that's also good but these are either random or based on intelligence. I remember immigration police boarding a train I was on traveling from Germany to Netherlands. They discovered an Asian guy without a Schengen visa traveling from Germany to Amsterdam for a flight. His visa was only for Germany. They took him off at the next station Netherlands and sent him back to Germany. Seen the checks many times, once traveling by car across the French/Belgian border, 2am in the morning and there were many border/immigration officers. Got stopped, fully document checked asked where I was coming from, going to, car was searched etc. Most times the border is empty but you never know when you'll get checked, works well for little inconvenience but checks there are unlike what many seem to think, mostly serviced by the SIS.

Edited by Orange1290 (13 May 2021 12.12pm)

Pro China, EU & Palestine