If it is voted on by the Republicans and the National Rally, the motion for prior rejection tabled by the environmentalists would prevent any examination of the text by the deputies. The government is wary but does not want to believe in such a scenario.
Will the examination of the immigration bill in the National Assembly take place? Monday, December 11, the arrival in public session of the text, reworked in the law committee after its passage and its hardening in the Senate, promises to be a test of truth for the executive. It could be stopped straight from the start by a prior rejection motion, filed by environmentalists. The initiative will be put to a vote before the start of examination of the bill, expected from 4 p.m.
If the motion is voted for by a majority of the deputies present, the text will be rejected even before the opening of the debates. Is a coalition of elected officials from the right and the left possible to deal a blow to the text proposed by Gérald Darmanin, the Minister of the Interior? If the government says it is confident, the Les Républicains and Rassemblement national groups leave doubts lingering. A vote on this motion would mark a clear disavowal for the executive. “If this is the case, the government is defeated”we recognize in Beauvau.
A “tempting” recourse for LRs
In the regulations of the National Assembly, article 91 provides for the possibility of a motion of prior rejection, “the purpose of which is to have it recognized that the proposed text is contrary to one or more constitutional provisions, or to have it decided that there is no need to deliberate.” On the immigration bill, environmentalists like the LR group had each tabled such a motion. The regulations, however, provide that only one of them can be voted on, and that of the environmentalists was drawn by lot. It is the deputy for Yvelines, Benjamin Lucas, who will defend it in the Hemicycle.
Will environmentalists obtain a majority against the bill? On Sunday, several right-wing and far-right elected officials suggested that their groups could approve this motion. “We will decide our position on Monday”announced Eric Ciotti, president of the Les Républicains party, in The Parisian. “Only the text that came out of the Senate, and only this one, suits us. The adoption of a motion to reject would result in a new debate on the Senate text”, he nevertheless stressed. “It’s quite a tempting solution.”had estimated Olivier Marleix, president of the LR group in the Assembly, on Sud Radio.
The vague intentions of the RN
The government’s text, in particular its proposal to regularize undocumented workers in sectors in tension, is the subject of strong criticism from the right. But LR deputies are reluctant to vote for such a motion. “It’s very divided”, slips an elected member of the group to franceinfo. “I don’t vote for that.”, supports another LR deputy.
Within the RN group, which has 88 deputies, “we will discuss it [lundi]“said Marine Le Pen, guest of the “Grand Rendez-Vous” on Europe 1, CNews and The echoes. “There are arguments for and arguments against”developed the president of the RN group in the Assembly.
“The argument against is that obviously we want to debate. The pro is that it is completely obvious that we are head-on opposed to this law.”
Marine Le Pen, MP for Pas-de-Calaison Europe 1, CNews and “Les Echos”
In recent days, several opinions have been expressed on the subject in the ranks of the extreme right. Questioned by AFP,th deputy Jean-Philippe Tanguy thus declared that the RN would not vote on this motion of rejection, because he wishes “discuss” on the text. The decision of the RN deputies will be taken on Monday “at 3 p.m., during a group meeting”said Edwige Diaz, vice-president of the far-right party, on franceinfo.
The majority wants to be confident
As the vote approaches, the government and the majority want to believe in the continuation of debates on the bill in the National Assembly. On franceinfo and France Inter, the Minister of Labor, Olivier Dussopt, also said he was confident. “I do not believe” that there is a risk, did he declare. “No worries”, confirms with France Télévisions a source within the executive.
“It is still very complicated for LR and the RN to explain that we are going to vote on an environmentalist rejection motion, to refuse to debate on immigration…”
A source within the executiveat France Télévisions
Within the majority, elected officials still mention “risks” that the motion to reject be adopted, even if this probability seems “weak”. “It would be incredible if LR and the RN voted for it. But with the current atmosphere, we can expect the worst”adds a Renaissance deputy, half reassured.
On Franceinfo on Friday, Gérald Darmanin himself recognized that“arithmetically yes, the oppositions can come together and vote against the text”. “It would be the coalition between the carp and the rabbit, however, he denounced. Do you see LR parliamentarians voting on a motion on immigration with the Greens and LFI? Do you see the PS and Marleix in the same package of votes?” Such a result, for the Minister of the Interior, “would be absolutely unnatural and contrary to the general interest of the French”.
Benjamin Lucas replies that“there is no text of the motion of rejection. I am not asking colleagues to agree with my vision of things. The subject is to press a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ button, on: ‘Should we reject the Darmanin text or not?'”
If the motion is rejected on Monday, examination of the bill in public session can begin without incident. Otherwise, he would be immediately arrested. The government will then have several options, details LCP: the resumption of the parliamentary shuttle with a return of the text from the Senate, the convening of a joint committee (CMP) to try to find a compromise between the deputies and senators, or the pure and simple removal of the text.
Note that a CMP “of a more right-wing sensibility that the Assembly (…) could adopt a text close to that of the Senate”according to Jean-Éric Schoettl, former secretary general of the Constitutional Council, in Point.