Opposed to the government’s text, in particular article 3 on “professions in tension”, several parliamentarians The Republicans nevertheless intervene, in the territories where they are elected, in favor of foreigners wishing to regularize their situation. A practice that the presidential camp intends to denounce to put pressure on the right.
Under a beautiful late summer sun, the deputies of the presidential majority met in mid-September for a back-to-school seminar in a small village in Seine-et-Marne. While some play ping-pong, others, more studious, hold conferences and work meetings. A majority executive stands a little aside. “No, I will not give you the names and numbers, because it is our nuclear weapon”he whispers.
For several months, the Macronist camp has kept secret a list of names of LR deputies who intercede with the prefectures to promote the regularization of people in an irregular situation. A banal practice – MPs regularly intervene with numerous public bodies for people who request them – but which takes on a completely different meaning in the explosive context of the immigration bill.
The government’s text, whose fate appears more than uncertain, arrives in the Senate on Monday November 6 before an examination in the National Assembly three weeks later. And his Article 3 has crystallized tensions between the Republicans and the majority for many months. It provides for the creation of a residence permit for so-called “shortage” professions, valid for one year, for undocumented foreigners employed in sectors such as construction or hospitality, with a labor shortage. If the bill is adopted, the system will come into force “experimentally” until December 31, 2026. A report on this measure will then be sent to Parliament. But for the right, it’s no: the measure would lead, according to them, to massive regularization of illegal immigrants and to “a call of air”. The troops of Bruno Retailleau, in the Senate, and Olivier Marleix, in the Assembly, even brandish the threat of a motion of censure.
“It concerns half of the LR group”
The intransigence of the leaders of LR, on whom the majority was counting on to have this bill adopted, annoys the Macronist ranks. Several of them denounce the hypocrisy and contradictions of right-wing elected officials who categorically refuse this article 3 even though, in their constituency, they would request the intervention of the prefect. “The subject is taboo among LRs, but it concerns half of the group”ensures a framework of the majority.
If everyone has heard of this famous list, few have consulted it. “I didn’t see it with my own eyes, but it’s one of those little spikes that Darmanin uses on the LRs,” confides a Renaissance deputy. “The subject is in the safe of [Grégory] Channel [le conseiller parlementaire de Gérald Darmanin] and only he and the minister must have access to it”, slips a former parliamentary advisor. An influential member of the presidential party assures us: “Of course Darmanin has the list, but he will never reveal it. It’s simply to say to the French and to LR: ‘Don’t be fooled’.”
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In the ranks of the Republicans, we are protesting against the existence of this list and the behavior of the Minister of the Interior. “It’s small. Let him brandish it!”annoys an LR deputy, who has no “No problem” to tell how she helped renew the residence permit of a cook at the request of a restaurateur in her constituency. “This little game of the majority and Gérald Darmanin to say ‘I’m going to release the list in the press’ is pettiness. It’s inelegant”, denounces Yannick Neuder. The LR deputy for Isère assumes “visa extensions or valid requests, from people who were in a regular situation”.
A process “contrary to the Constitution”
Faced with this “small game”, The Republicans have adopted a dual strategy. First, criticize the method, which would be contrary to the law. “The writings of a parliamentarian are protected. Revealing them is contrary to the Constitution”, warns Ian Boucard, deputy for the Territoire de Belfort. Olivier Marleix even declared on Tuesday October 31 at a press conference that he was going to contact the National Commission for Information Technology and Liberties (Cnil), which he confirmed with franceinfo. “If the Minister of the Interior asked the prefects to provide him with information on the deputies (…) and collects this data, it is prohibited by law”denounces the boss of LR deputies, for whom there is a real “card affair”. “Not only is he a hypocrite, but he’s also a coward because he doesn’t want it to be known.”replies an influential representative from Renaissance.
Contacted by franceinfo, Gérald Darmanin’s office denies the existence of any “file” of LR deputies. “It is, however, quite true that opposition parliamentarians regularly ask for regularizations”, nuance the same source. Implicitly, the minister’s entourage confirms that Gérald Darmanin is well aware of the names of these elected officials.
“Interventions by parliamentarians always go back to the Ministry of the Interior, this is nothing new.”
Gérald Darmanin’s officeat franceinfo
Gérald Darmanin himself does not hesitate to discuss this situation on TV sets. “You know, the number of people, including LR parliamentarians, who write to me to say: “I need to regularize my nanny…”, for example, he slipped onto BFMTV on October 30. Kicking in when asked if he will reveal the list of LR deputies concerned, the minister only says to call “to coherence between public discourse” of these elected officials and “what they write”.
“No random interventions”
What is it in fact? Of the 61 LR deputies contacted by franceinfo, around ten responded and nine of them admit to having already interceded with the prefecture of their constituency. But, for these parliamentarians, there is no contradiction between their demands at the local level and their very hostile speech to the bill. “It has nothing to do, sweeps Hubert Brigand. Let them tell me that, they won’t be disappointed with the trip!”launches the elected official from Côte-d’Or to the attention of the majority. “The situation is not contradictory: we are against this call for air that article 3 proposes”, summarizes Yannick Neuder.
“Massive regularization is no. Case by case, why not.”
Yannick Neuder, LR deputyat franceinfo
All the elected officials interviewed pride themselves on intervening in specific cases. “I don’t want to make random interventions, I look first to see if it’s defensible”says Hubert Brigand. “It sometimes allows you to keep a grocery store in your village”agrees the LR deputy for Seine-et-Marne Jean-Louis Thiériot, who says he is “intervened for divers in the catering industry”.
Less hostile to the government text than his comrades, Xavier Breton remembers having “makes an intervention letter” for the undocumented employee of a bakery in his territory, in Ain, without his request being successful. “There are people who work and who have real good reasons to stay in France”extends Ian Boucard, unfavorable to article 3. He says he is ready, for example, to defend the profile of “this lady who works in a community, as a cleaning lady. She is divorced, her residence permit has expired.”
Nicknamed “Regulator”, Olivier Marleix shines
The boss of LR deputies, Olivier Marleix, assumes the fact of resorting to this practice himself. “I sometimes write to the prefect to enforce the law”, he explained at a press conference. Which made a Renaissance deputy say: “If Eric Dupond-Moretti is ‘Acquittator’, Olivier Marleix is ’Regulator’. He is the most concerned by this subject.”
“He intervened on different files of people residing in Dreux, in the sense of regularization, present for more than five years in France”assures a local source. “He’s already won, it’s happening, fortunately!”extends another.
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Questioned on franceinfo on September 19, Olivier Marleix admitted to having intervened, for example, in favor of foreign doctors for the hospital in his constituency. “That prefects can resolve situations shows how useless Article 3 is.”argues today the elected official from Eure-et-Loir. “We are in favor of the case-by-case basis that the law currently allows”he insists.
Faced with the Republicans who defend themselves from any double talk, the majority deputies continue to denounce hypocrisy. For them, the right has an interest in the law not changing. “Above all, they want to be able to continue to act as an intermediary with the prefect, so that bosses and employees in their constituencies are accountable to them”mocks a Macronist parliamentarian.
The danger of the “single shot rifle”
Can the majority’s pressure on the right force it to be more conciliatory about this famous article 3? For the government, the strategy is risky. Drawing out the list would be like “a single-shot rifle”, image an LR deputy. “It’s totally counterproductive. This blackmail can only enrage my colleagues who are most opposed to the text”adds another.
The fact remains that most right-wing parliamentarians are today opposed to the provision as it is currently presented, with an obligation of three years of presence in France and eight months of activity over the last two years to qualify for a residence permit. “For me, the list is not a nuclear weapon, in the sense that LR will not want an agreement with the majority on this text anywaysighs a macronie strategist. They play a step above the National Rally and want to make a difference. This text has been badly crossed out from the beginning.”