The executive has given itself a month to reach an agreement on immigration reform with Les Républicains, whose votes are essential to have the text adopted.
The pension soap opera barely completed, here is the executive facing a new puzzle: how to find a majority to have its immigration reform adopted? Pragmatic, the macronists have set their sights on Les Républicains (LR), in the majority in the Senate and whose 59 seats in the National Assembly can offer the votes to pass the text. The migration policy will be addressed by the president of the party, Eric Ciotti, during the General States of the movement, organized on Saturday June 17 in Paris. On this theme, a marker of the right, the LRs are raising the stakes to obtain a hardening of the reform.
Since the end of May, Gérald Darmanin, charged by the executive with carrying out consultations with the right, has multiplied meetings with LR parliamentarians. “Our goal is to find an agreement before the summer break, by July 14”, explains the office of the Minister of the Interior to franceinfo. This leaves barely a month to develop a text likely to appeal to the right. “It will be very complex to reach a majority, LR places the level of its bids very high”warns the centrist senator Philippe Bonnecarrère, co-rapporteur of the government bill in the Senate.
The regularization of undocumented migrants, a “red line”
During the examination in committee of the laws in the Senate, on March 15, LR has already managed to toughen the reform, by tightening the criteria for family reunification and by strengthening the control of student immigration. State medical aid (AME) has also been transformed into emergency medical aid only. The party vnow had to bury the proposal for a residence permit for immigrants working in sectors that are struggling to recruit, such as restaurants or hotels. But the executive is attached to a certain balance in its text, which plans to strengthen expulsions, in particular for convicted foreigners, while facilitating the regularization of undocumented migrants.
“On this subject, we don’t want lukewarm water, no ‘at the same time’. There are red lines, in particular the regularization of foreigners working in jobs in tension”, slice Annie Genevard, LR deputy for Doubs and general secretary of the party. Eric Ciotti and his troops have already announced that this provision would not have the support of LR for the reform if the executive did not give it up.
“I told Gérald Darmanin that it was not debatable”confirms Rhône Senator François-Noël Buffet, one of the many LR parliamentarians received by the Minister of the Interior, who has yet to meet Bruno Retailleau, LR leader at the Luxembourg Palace, and Eric Ciotti. “This measure sends a dangerous message, telling migrants and especially the mafia networks of smugglers, that at the end of the day, if you have a job, then you can stay in France even if you entered irregularly”insists the senator.
The threat of a motion of censure
To put pressure on the government, the LRs tabled two bills (one ordinary, and one constitutional) containing their own reform. It has points in common with the text of the government, the latter having been inspired by the work of the right to ensure its support. But it goes further by proposing to free itself from European rules and treaties on migration. A red line for Matignon, this time.
The Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, however sent signs of openness, affirming Thursday at the Figaro be ready to “discuss” of the “terms” regularization of undocumented migrants working in shortage occupations. 1 .5 times the minimum wage.
“It’s good that the Prime Minister is starting to send some signals, but we have to go further,” reacts François-Noël Buffet. “If the government tries to force through, we will table a motion of censure”warned the president of the LR group in the Assembly, Olivier Marleix, at the microphone of LCI on Thursday. “If he does not find a majority, Emmanuel Macron will have to abandon the reform, or dissolve the Assembly”adds a party executive.
After a debate on the 64-year-olds which revealed its internal divisions, the right intends to recover its health by displaying its unity on the question of immigration. The Republicans thus intend to prepare as well as possible for the European elections of 2024, without forgetting the presidential election of 2027.
The path is therefore narrow for the executive, which must also spare the left wing of the majority, like the deputy of Vienne Sacha Houlié, who defends the right to vote for foreigners in municipal elections. “THE government is stuck between its left wing and its right wing, it is trying to find an unobtainable majority. Darmanin uses all the means of seduction, but it can last indefinitely”observes Julien Aubert, vice-president of LR.
“If the government abandoned its measure on the trades in tension and agreed to dip into our proposals, it would be a political victory for us.”
Julien Aubert, vice-president of the Republicansat franceinfo
Some, however, wonder about the real intentions of the right. “I wonder if she wants to put her paw on this text by obtaining concessions, or if she does not want an agreementloose a centrist parliamentarian. Because if a compromise is found and she votes for the reform, then there is no more marker and the right is part of the majority. Hence this exercise of scaling government up an endless ladder, raising the stakes.”
“The party does not want this debate to interfere with the senatorial campaign in September”assures an LR deputy, for whom the right is in no hurry to complete the consultations with the government. “Our big dilemma today is that we are divided between those who think that we can support government texts if they go in the right direction, without being Macron’s auxiliaries, and those who are viscerally anti-Macron”she continues.
Whatever the outcome of these delicate negotiations, the party hopes to reap the benefits of its positions on migration policy, both in public and internally. “It’s a subject that brings our family together, we have to be able to reunite”hopes the deputy LR of Haute-Savoie Virginie Duby-Muller.