The passage of France's highly sensitive immigration law, backed by President Emmanuel Macron, sparked a significant rift within his own majority on Wednesday as the text was supported by the far right.
After 18 months of back and forth over this bill, the National Assembly voted in favor of it after the Senate on Tuesday evening with 349 votes in favor and 186 against, from 573 voters, the LR (Les Républicains, Gaullist and liberal political party). -conservative) and the RN (National Rally, far right) joined their votes.
However, there was a deep split in the presidential majority, with it missing 59 votes out of 251 deputies between votes against and abstentions. A large number of the parties involved spoke out against this text: 27 MPs voted against and 32 abstained.
This opposition to the text was even expressed in the government: Health Minister Aurélien Rousseau sent a letter of resignation to Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne on Tuesday evening, a ministerial source told the AFP news agency.
Emmanuel Macron “did not receive” the resignation of Health Minister Aurélien Rousseau, assured Ms. Borne on Wednesday.
Like Mr Rousseau, according to confirming government sources, several ministers opposed to the bill, such as Clément Beaune (transport) or Sylvie Retailleau (higher education), were received in Matignon on Tuesday evening.
Another figure from the left wing of Mr Macron's camp, the president of the Legal Affairs Commission of the National Assembly, Sacha Houlié, voted against this bill, which emerged from a joint joint commission (CMP) that brings together senators and deputies and works to achieve a Compromise between the two chambers is responsible for the law.
Given the cracks in her camp, the Prime Minister on Tuesday denounced “a gross maneuver by the RN” aimed primarily at dividing the majority.
No “crisis in the majority”
President Macron is scheduled to speak in a broadcast from the Élysée Palace on Wednesday evening, France Télévisions said in a press release.
Elisabeth Borne denied “any crisis of the majority” and said on Wednesday that she had a “sense of fulfillment of duty” after passing a law “that respects our values.”
However, on France Inter, she admitted that the measures in the text were probably unconstitutional since the text “needs to be developed” after the examination by the Constitutional Council to which the President of the Republic referred it.
Faced with the strong criticism of this right-wing text by the left, associations and part of its majority, the “deeply humanist” Prime Minister assures that she “has ensured that this text respects our values”.
“We wanted to vote on a text on useful and effective measures expected by our fellow citizens, with two objectives: to remove more quickly and effectively those who do not have the right to reside in France and to better integrate those we want.” “Welcome,” she summarized.
The question of a minimum period of residence in France so that non-European foreigners can receive social benefits in a legal situation almost caused the negotiations to fail.
While the right called for a period of five years to open the right to a broad list of “non-contributory” benefits, the compromise sealed on Tuesday is based on a distinction between foreigners based on whether they are “employed” or not. .
For access to Personalized Housing Assistance (APL), a financial support to reduce rent that has been the main point of contention, a residency condition is set at five years for those who do not work and just three months for the others.
These new restrictions do not apply to international students.
The majority accepted a more restrictive version than that of the original bill, giving prefects the ability to legalize undocumented workers in so-called shortage occupations.
The presidential camp only won on one point: the possibility for an undocumented worker to apply for this residence permit without the consent of his employer.
The fact is that the crisis in the president's camp is quite open. One minister told AFP that he was “not at all” satisfied with the result and the RN’s positive vote.
“Kiss of death”
The far-right party's support for the text, which gives high priority to the concept of “national preference”, is tantamount to a “kiss of death” for the majority, warns a member of the Renaissance Party, a Macronist of the first hour.
“A great moment of shame for the government,” condemned the leader of the Socialist MPs, Boris Vallaud. A law that “disfigures the image of France”, according to the leader of the radical left Jean-Luc Mélenchon. In contrast to the leader of the Les Républicains (LR) party, Eric Ciotti, who was happy about a “historic victory for the right”.