In a tremor, the French government has pushed its controversial immigration law through parliament in a more stringent version. Both the Senate and the National Assembly approved a compromise text. The proposed law has thus been passed.
While the centrist government under President Emmanuel Macron was recently assured of the approval of the conservatives, it had to fear for the cohesion of its own camp due to concessions to civil rights.
The legal text is significantly more restrictive
With the project, the government wants to better control immigration and improve integration. The text of the law that has now been passed is significantly more restrictive than originally intended. Regular migrants should only receive certain social benefits such as housing subsidies or family allowances later than before.
Parliament is to debate annual immigration quotas. Furthermore, the crime of irregular residence, which was abolished under socialist President François Hollande, is to be reintroduced. Dual nationals who commit crimes against law enforcement officers should also lose their French nationality.
One of the core measures of the government’s project, according to which migrants who previously worked without residence documents in professions with a shortage of staff should be given a temporary residence permit, will only come in a significantly limited form.
Health Minister submits resignation
After the left-wing camp, the conservative Républicains and the right-wing National Rassemblement National rejected the legal text in the National Assembly last week before the plenary debate, the centrist government sought a compromise in a commission. To secure the Conservatives’ approval, she made significant concessions to them.
Resistance then also came from within their own ranks. Several MPs from the left wing of the Macron camp had already announced before the vote that they would vote against the text. According to media reports, several ministers from the left wing of the government were considering resigning.
According to media reports, France’s Health Minister Aurélien Rousseau has already submitted his resignation. The newspapers “Le Figaro” and “Le Parisien” reported that it was unclear whether Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne had accepted the resignation.
