France’s lower house of parliament on Tuesday night passed a government Bill tightening immigration rules, despite a rebellion within the ranks of President Emmanuel Macron’s governing party after it was backed by the hard Right.
Interior minister Gérald Darmanin said that the “strong text” had been adopted with a sufficiently large majority of 349 for and 186 against, and that the votes in favour from Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party were not needed for it to pass. The upper-house Senate had earlier also passed the legislation.
Ms Le Pen announced on Tuesday she would back Emmanuel Macron’s flagship immigration Bill after he agreed to provide benefits to migrants only after five years of residency.
She said the French president’s concession meant the Bill was an “ideological victory” for her hard-Right National Rally (RN) party. Legal migrants currently receive state benefits after six months.
The RN had previously said it would vote against the Bill or abstain, and Ms Le Pen, who now leads the party’s lawmakers in parliament but is widely expected to stand again for president in 2027, described the legislation as a “toughening of immigration conditions”.
She said: “We can rejoice in ideological progress, an ideological victory even for the National Rally, since this is now enshrined into law as a national priority,” said the three-time presidential candidate.
Six ministers ‘intend to resign’
Despite getting its Bill through parliament, the Macron camp is in an embarrassing quandary, as many MPs may be uncomfortable approving a Bill supported by Ms Le Pen.
On Tuesday night, Mr Macron called an emergency meeting at the Elysee amid reports that six Left-leaning ministers from his government intend to resign. The resignations, if confirmed, risk plunging his administration into crisis.
The draft immigration Bill had prompted six Left-leaning MPs including Sacha Houlie to announce that they would not vote for the Bill in the National Assembly.
According to France Info, the ministers who were due to take part in the meeting include Clement Beaune, the transport minister and former Europe minister who is known for his tough stance during Brexit negotiations and seen as close to Mr Macron.
According to a participant at the meeting, Macron agreed to submit the Bill to a new reading rather than promulgate it if it were passed only with the help of the votes from Le Pen’s RN. It meant the government would not count the RN’s votes in support of the Bill.
The RN leader’s bombshell came days after her party joined forces with the Left-wing opposition to reject an earlier version of the Bill, which aims to clamp down on illegal immigration and speed up asylum requests while granting stay permits to illegal workers in sectors with labour shortages.
Legislation significantly toughened
The rejection was a major blow to Mr Macron, as commentators warned a second failure to pass it could leave him a lame duck.
However, the legislation was significantly toughened by a mixed parliamentary commission dominated by the Macron camp and members of the opposition conservative Republicans party.
Mr Macron’s Renaissance group lacks an absolute parliamentary majority and therefore requires ad hoc support from opposition MPs, notably the Republicans, for laws it tables.
The two had been engaged in frantic talks since Monday. Agreement was finally reached on Tuesday afternoon after the Macron side ceded to its demand to make social benefits contingent on five years of residency in the country or 30 months for those who work.
The other key measure grants state prefects powers to hand out stay permits to illegal immigrants already working in sectors “under strain”, such as construction. It will not be open to those with a criminal record.
Mr Darmanin called the agreement “a good thing” because it contained “measures to protect the French, the necessary firmness with regard to foreign offenders, and fair measures such as the [historic] end to the detention of minors or regularisation for undocumented workers”.
‘Great moment of dishonour’
Eric Ciotti, the leader of the Republicans, said that it was “thanks to our work and ideas, we are imposing this text”, calling it “a real turning point”.
But the Left said it was appalled at the prospect of the legislation being passed, with Boris Vallaud, the head of Socialist MPs in the National Assembly, describing it as a “great moment of dishonour for the government”.
A group of 50 migrant rights groups, NGOs and unions called it the “most regressive in at least 40 years” in France, saying it smacked of “unabashed xenophobia”.
