The French National Assembly Rejects Macron’s Immigration Law: The Implications and Next Steps

2023-12-11 20:44:00

  • The French government has suffered a defeat in the National Assembly on the controversial issue of immigration.
  • A majority of MPs voted for a motion that rejected the centrist government’s proposed law before the plenary debate.
  • The narrow majority of 270 to 265 votes came regarding because, in addition to left-wing forces, conservatives and right-wing nationalists also supported the Greens’ proposal.

However, the controversial plan of the government under head of state Emmanuel Macron is not off the table. Although the government might withdraw the draft, it might also refer it to the Senate, the upper house of the French parliament. The government might also convene a commission of senators and representatives to discuss the project.

Caption: The French National Assembly rejected the Macron government’s immigration law. Keystone/AP Photo/Michel Euler

As a result of the vote, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin offered his resignation to President Macron. This is normal, said Darmanin on TF1. Macron rejected the offer and demanded that a proposal be made to him on Tuesday on how the proposed law should proceed.

“Be nice with the nice ones and bad with the bad ones.”

Macron’s middle camp has no longer had an absolute majority in the French National Assembly since the parliamentary elections in June 2022 and is therefore dependent on votes from the opposition for their projects. The fact that a majority has now emerged once morest the government camp is a blow for them. Interior Minister Darmanin had previously tried to get the bourgeois camp on his side, both with pithy words and with concessions such as a reform of medical care for irregular migrants.

The government says it wants to use the proposed law to control immigration and improve integration. To this end, she wants to give migrants who previously worked without residence documents in jobs with a staff shortage a temporary residence permit. At the same time, the government wants to be able to force some previously protected migrants to leave the country and expand deportations. “Be nice to the nice people and bad to the bad guys” is what the French Interior Minister calls it.

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