France
Health Minister Aurélien Rousseau has resigned after a controversial law backed by the far right was passed on Tuesday
Wed, Dec 20, 2023, 1:45 p.m. GMT
Emmanuel Macron and his centrist government are grappling with a growing political crisis in France after a minister resigned in protest over his controversial immigration law backed by the far right.
Aurélien Rousseau, who was appointed health minister just five months ago, offered his resignation immediately after the law was passed by MPs on Tuesday evening. Shortly after midday on Wednesday, government spokesman Olivier Véran said it had been accepted.
According to reports, several other ministers, including Clément Beaune, who is responsible for transport, and who had spoken out against the new version of the law, were summoned to Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne after the vote to avoid further desertions in the cabinet.
The Elysee Palace said Macron would make a statement at the palace on Wednesday on a prime-time news chat show. However, a communiqué from France Télévisions announcing his appearance said the president would talk about “key moments” in 2023 and highlights of the coming year.
The original immigration bill, which took 18 months to draft, was defeated this month when opposition MPs had it thrown out of the Assemblée Nationale before it was debated. The government, which does not have a majority in the lower house, then handed the decision to a joint committee of seven MPs and seven senators in the right-wing-controlled upper house to find a compromise.
By the time the already contentious text returned to parliament, senators had introduced so many tough measures – including immigration quotas and restrictions on social benefits for undocumented migrants – that far-right leader Marine Le Pen claimed it was an “ideological victory” for her anti-immigrant policies Political party.
Borne has denied that there was a crisis in the government. She stressed that she had “ensured that this bill respects our values” and that the legislation contains “useful and effective measures that our fellow citizens have been waiting for.”
MPs from Macron's ruling Renaissance Party were divided over the law, with 27 MPs voting against and 32 abstaining. However, Borne insisted that the bill would have been passed even without the support of the 88 MPs from the far-right Rassemblement National (RN). Analysis of the votes showed that the RN would have fallen if it had voted against the bill.
Véran told a press conference: “We knew that solving the immigration problem was a dangerous mission. We only have a relative majority in the Assemblée Nationale… so we have turned to the right. We knew that the law would be the result of a compromise. Since yesterday everyone has been trying to impose their own narrative. The [RN] and the right wants to declare victory.”
The text has now been sent to the country's Constitutional Council, which has a month to consider whether clauses are unconstitutional and need to be removed before they are added to the law books.
In particular, the Council will examine whether immigration quotas limiting the number of people admitted to France over the next three years and restrictions on the access of undocumented people to social benefits are discriminatory and therefore unlawful. The government believes that both violate the constitution.
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