Will there be a Ministry of Immigration in Michel Barnier’s government? Nothing has been decided, but the idea has caused a stir in the former presidential majority.
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When franceinfo revealed, Monday September 9, that prefects of departments exposed to migration issues were approached to form the cabinet of a possible Ministry of Immigration, Macron’s party was seized with vertigo. “If Barnier ever does that, the beam will work very hard in the group at the Assemblywarns an executive advisor, it can even give way quickly”In short, Gabriel Attal’s group could explode, because immigration is a highly flammable subject in the presidential camp.
In December, nearly 60 MPs did not vote for the Darmanin law. So, the mere idea of a ministry that would bring the subject back to the forefront arouses an outcry. “Great idea to bring together… the far right”, protests left-wing MP Stella Dupont. “Ridiculous and depressing”, laments a minister, when one of her colleagues underlines the difficulty for Michel Barnier to “having to assert oneself on the themes of authority to counter the RN without raising an indignant front on its left”. The indignant reactions were not long in coming. A minister therefore advised the head of government not to get involved in this because, he said, “I don’t think that this will allow the majority to be extended to socialists.”
Not everyone is so upset. It all depends on what you mean by the Immigration Department. “If it’s a Ministry of Integration, I’m willing to look, but if it’s a Ministry of Immigration, it’s no,” confides a pillar of the Macronist group. A position defended Monday on franceinfo by the resigning Minister of Industry Roland Lescure: “If it is a Ministry of National Identity, very little for me, if it is to set up peaceful discussions on a subject that deserves them, why not”.
Faced with the emotion caused, Matignon is stalling. An advisor to the Prime Minister explained to Agence France Presse that he wanted “treat the subject seriously and think about the most effective ways to achieve results”but without necessarily going through a ministry “specifically” dedicated to immigration”. Immediate relief in the Macronist ranks even if a deputy says: “Let’s stay on our guard… Hortefeux is not far away!” It was Nicolas Sarkozy who created a “Ministry of Immigration, Integration and National Identity” in 2007, with Brice Hortefeux at its head. Then the former socialist Éric Besson launched a debate on national identity. A debate accused of having freed racist speech, vilified by the moderate right and the centrists, who nevertheless supported Nicolas Sarkozy at the time. Nicolas Sarkozy ended up abolishing this ministry in 2010, putting immigration back under the supervision of the Ministry of the Interior.