The former Prime Minister considers “flexibility” in the law necessary to adapt to situations. We must “leave the hand to the prefects”, he believes.
“Article 3, with this enforceable right [à la régularisation] does not seem essential to me.”, judge Manuel Valls, former Prime Minister and former Minister of the Interior, on franceinfo Wednesday November 8. Since Monday, the asylum and immigration bill has been examined in the Senate where the majority, LR and centrists, have found a compromise to delete this article on the regularization of undocumented workers in so-called “shortage” professions.
The Republicans accepted that this article be replaced by another also providing for regularization of undocumented workers in so-called “shortage” professions but on a case-by-case basis, at the discretion of the prefects. “It was, in fact, unacceptable to create an enforceable right, allowing illegal workers to automatically obtain a residence permit”denounced Tuesday in a press release, Bruno Retailleau, senator from Vendée and president of the LR group in the Senate.
“To become more effective against illegal immigration”Manuel Valls believes that he “must keep the spirit of the circular” who carries his name, “even if it means modifying it, including toughening it”. According to the former Minister of the Interior, he “we must maintain flexibility to resolve situations, because there are unbearable situations involving workers” illegal immigrant. A flexibility granted by the Valls circular, he believes. “We must keep it and give control to the prefects”, considers Manuel Valls.
The former tenant of Place Beauvau explains that in 2012, the government of Jean-Marc Ayrault did not have “wanted to engrave this flexibility in stone and into the law” and adds that “the circular allows the State and its representatives on the ground, with business leaders, with unions, associations which represent immigration, to deal with these questions in the most pragmatic way possible”.
“To completely remove the AME would be irresponsible”
Manuel Valls repeats “that we must find an agreement between the Senate and the National Assembly, between the presidential majority and the senatorial majority” on this immigration bill, because “the French rather support this text”. Without this agreement, he believes, “there will still be a feeling of helplessness.” It develops : “We have had roughly the same immigration policies for 40 years. However, we can clearly see that there have been abuses regarding the right to asylum that must be preserved.”
By 200 votes for and 136 against, the Senate adopted on Tuesday the elimination of state medical aid (AME) reserved for undocumented immigrants to transform it into “emergency medical aid”. Manuel Valls is not opposed to it. BLADE “costs a little more than a billion euros per year. The idea, as is the case in other countries, to limit it”, without deleting it, he wishes to point out. This help will be “preserved for serious illnesses and acute pain, pregnancy, vaccinations, preventive medicine”. The former Prime Minister considers that “delete completely” blade “would be totally irresponsible”because this “could spread a whole series of pathologies in our country”.