NAfter the success of the vote on the stricter immigration law with the help of the Rassemblement National (RN), French President Emmanuel Macron wants to explain himself on television this Wednesday evening. The alliance of convenience with Marine Le Pen's faction led to a lack of understanding even within the ranks of his party.
Six ministers are said to have threatened to resign. According to the French press, Health Minister Aurélien Rousseau wrote a letter of resignation that evening. Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said on Wednesday morning that she had no knowledge of it. “I have fulfilled my duty,” said the 62-year-old head of government on the France Inter radio station. “This law does not correspond to the plans of the presidential majority,” criticized the chairman of the Legal Affairs Committee, Sacha Houlié.
The questioning of the land law for citizenship, the restriction of family reunification, fines for illegal stay and the disadvantage of immigrants in social benefits were not planned, said the MP who headed the mediation committee for the presidential party. “There are numerous measures that, in my view, contradict the constitution,” criticized Houlié.
In the future, social benefits will only be available after five years
In the future, social benefits such as child benefit and housing allowances will only be paid to non-European immigrants after a waiting period of five years. Land rights (ius soli) will be restricted: from now on, anyone born to foreign parents on French soil will no longer automatically receive citizenship when they come of age. Instead, young people between the ages of 16 and 18 must submit an application and prove that they have integrated into France.
The rules for family reunification should also be tightened. Marine Le Pen (RN) spoke of an “ideological victory” for her party. With the law, the government will anchor a “national priority” in French law, she praised. Her father Jean-Marie Le Pen had already called for different rights for French people and immigrants with the slogan “national preference”.
Approval only with the support of the Rassemblement
The National Assembly approved the bill late on Tuesday evening with 349 votes in favor and 186 against. All 88 RN MPs voted for it. The 62 members of the right-wing Republicans (LR) also unanimously agreed. In the presidential camp, however, there was an unprecedented struggle. 69 MPs abstained or voted against. This made it even more visible that the government only has a relative majority in the National Assembly.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin welcomed a “strong and decisive text”. It is the result of “a long struggle to better integrate foreigners and deport criminals more quickly.” Darmanin said the bill was adopted “without the votes of the RN”. As election expert Mathieu Gallard from the polling institute Ipsos explained, the Interior Minister's statement is not entirely accurate. Without the RN's votes, there would only have been a relative majority of 261 votes for the bill. The absolute majority is 268 votes. If the RN had voted against the law, it would have failed. All parties to the left of the presidential group voted against the draft.
Confused speech by the Interior Minister
Interior Minister Darmanin accused the left-wing parties of allying with the RN in a heated debate in the National Assembly. On December 11th, an alliance from the left to the right surprisingly pushed through a rejection motion. President Macron could then have had the draft law withdrawn. However, he decided to demand an “intelligent compromise” and leave the work to a mediation committee headed by Republicans. Interior Minister Darmanin avoided addressing the controversial changes during the debate. In a confused speech, he criticized Le Pen and claimed that the law would massively naturalize foreign workers in areas with labor shortages.
Meanwhile, in the Elysée Palace, the president held one crisis meeting after another. He announced that he would schedule a new reading of the law in accordance with Article 10 if a majority was achieved with only the RN's votes. Advisors in the Elysée Palace explained afterwards that since the relative majority had stood without Le Pen's support, a second reading was no longer necessary. The president hopes that the political hustle and bustle will quickly subside with the Christmas holidays.
The Republicans, on the other hand, spoke of a victory for civil rights. The LR party leader Eric Ciotti wants to meet with the CDU parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz in Paris in the morning. The LR parliamentary group leader in the Senate, Bruno Retailleau, said on the radio station Europe 1: “We forged and revised the text ourselves. It's the Senate bill that passed. It is a text of determination.”
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