The French Parliament adopted this Tuesday night, with 349 votes in favor and 186 against, a controversial immigration law that received the support of the most radical right, in addition to parties related to President Emmanuel Macron.
“The immigration text has been definitively voted on. It represents a long fight to better integrate foreigners and expel those who committed acts of crime. It is a strong and firm text,” highlighted the French Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, online. social X (formerly Twitter).
French deputies and senators had reached an agreement on the immigration bill in the afternoon, with the support of the National Rally (far right) and The Republicans (right), after arduous negotiations.
The joint joint commission, made up of seven senators and seven deputies, had begun negotiations to agree on a new version of the text on Monday at 5:00 p.m. and resumed them this Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. after a night marked by last-minute disagreements, especially regarding to social aid.
The National Assembly (lower house) had refused to debate the previous project on December 11, inflicting a setback on Macron (center).
The government decided to maintain the reform and convened a joint commission with the aim of seeking a compromise with the opposition.
The president of the right-wing National Rally (RN), Marine Le Pen, also praised the agreement and announced that her deputies would vote in favor of the bill.
“We can rejoice in an ideological advance, even an ideological victory of the National Rally, since now the law includes national priority, that is, the advantage granted to the French over foreigners present in our territory to access a certain number of social benefits,” Le Pen wrote.
“It's our text,” reacted the president of the right-wing Republican party, Éric Ciotti. His group also voted in favor of the text.
The head of the socialist group in the Assembly, Boris Vallaud, declared, however, that the agreement represented “a great moment of disgrace.”
The final orientation of the text, clearly right-wing, generated tensions between parties related to Macron and five ministers threatened to resign.
The negotiations focused above all on the sensitive issue of social benefits for non-European foreigners in an irregular situation.
The right defended establishing a minimum of five years of residence to open the right to certain aid.
According to parliamentary sources, The compromise sealed on Tuesday includes a distinction between non-EU foreigners (who are not citizens of the European Union) based on whether or not they are “in employment”.
For certain benefits, it will be necessary, for example, to have resided five years in the territory for those who do not work. For those who have a job, it will be required to have stayed in the country for at least 32 months.
The new restrictions do not apply to foreign students, refugees or those with a residence card.
In a joint statement, several NGOs and unions denounced the agreement and described the bill as the “most regressive for at least 40 years” in France.
AFP
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