The immigration bill was swept aside by deputies before it was even debated on Monday, December 11. The LR and RN deputies kept the suspense high throughout the day before finally voting for the rejection motion tabled by environmentalists against the immigration bill. “Your government allowed the Senate’s firm text to be trampled on in committee”told the minister the boss of the LR group Olivier Marleix, who is now demanding a return to the version of the text adopted by the Senate. “If we had a text that resembled that of the Senate, we could vote for it”he declared in the Four Columns room, after the adoption of the motion to reject. Follow the reactions at the Palais-Bourbon in our livestream.
The motion to reject filed by environmentalists adopted. The left, the right and the far right agreed to unite around the preliminary rejection motion tabled by the environmentalists to immediately interrupt the examination of some 2,600 amendments which were to be discussed on the text. 270 MPs voted for this rejection, while 265 voted against.
D-Day at the National Assembly. After more than a year of procrastination, the immigration bill, defended by the Minister of the Interior, arrived in the chamber at 4 p.m. Gérald Darmanin hoped to defend his text, adopted by the law committee, after a first reading in the Senate. But his plans were thwarted by the vote on a prior rejection motion.
An “incomprehensible” rejection, according to the majority. “Arithmetically, there are more opponents than majority, since we have a relative majority”, recognized Gérald Darmanin. But “it would be a denial of democracy not to debate”he judged Monday on Europe 1. “It would be incomprehensible, the Assembly would shoot itself in the foot”added its president, Yaël Braun-Pivet on RTL.
Soon a bill on the AME? The government will initiate “from the beginning of 2024” a reform of state medical aid, announced the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, at the opening of the debates on the immigration bill in the hemicycle of the National Assembly. The minister promised a “text deposit” will be “directly inspired” by a recent report submitted to the executive on this care system intended for foreigners in an irregular situation, which is regularly criticized by the right and the extreme right.