“An agreement is on track” with the Republicans, but the majority is worried about the rest of the five-year term

The Republicans are received again at Matignon on Sunday evening. The government intends to put all chances on its side so that a text likely to be adopted in the Assembly comes out of the joint committee.

A last chance meeting. Elisabeth Borne receives Republican elected officials this evening in Matignon, with one hope: that the seven deputies and the seven senators of the joint joint committee will reach a compromise on the text of the immigration bill on Monday, December 18.

If this is the case, on Tuesday, the resulting text will be submitted to the vote of the two Assemblies. In any case, a lighter atmosphere reigns around the negotiations this weekend. “An agreement is on track”, even assures an important advisor to the executive. An opinion shared by Hervé Marseille, the head of the Centrist Union group in the Senate, who is part of the senatorial majority which voted for a tougher version of the text. According to several sources, the Republicans have agreed to abandon some of their old favorites such as the elimination of state medical aid. A compromise was also almost found on the rules for access to family allowances and on the role of prefects in supervising the regularization of undocumented immigrants in professions in shortage.

“It’s still going to be a one-vote thing”

If the blocking points therefore seem to have been resolved while the CMP has not even started yet, certain questions persist. Are the Republicans really reliable, are they not bluffing? On this point, guest of franceinfo, the Minister Delegate in charge of Relations with Parliament, Franck Riester, was clear on Friday December 15: the government has “established a climate of trust” with the Republicans.

“The other worry is our majority”, grimaces an advisor. The risk: that an agreement too far to the right will startle the left wing. Between Renaissance, MoDem and Horizons, some counts show around forty votes missing in the event of a vote on Tuesday in the Assembly. A deputy is already taking bets: “It’s still going to be a one-vote thing”.

“We will be incapable”

But whatever the outcome, the majority is worried about the day after and the impact of the sequence on the rest of the five-year term, Julie Marie-Leconte. “If in the end we come out with a law, no one will remember the episode. Otherwise, we will be incapable”sighs a leading advisor.

“The French are basic: a government must succeed.”

A leading advisor

at franceinfo

In these conditions how to bounce back? “There’s still much to do”tries to reassure a minister: reindustrialize, achieve full employment… But how, after the “shipwreck”, tackle for example a possible text on active assistance in dying, asks a government heavyweight. The sequence on immigration proved, according to him, that it was impossible to have a calm debate in Parliament.

But one question gnaws at the heart of the government and outweighs all: does the setback on this bill, presented at will as balanced, not mark the failure of “at the same time”, the DNA of the macronism? Clear verdict behind the scenes of a powerful ministry: “The President should say stop, otherwise this kind of episode will happen again.”

Before this crisis, Emmanuel Macron was already promising “a great meeting with the Nation” in January to send the country a message of unity. No one, even at the Elysée, can say what it is.