The government text, carried by the Minister of the Interior, arrives on Monday for debate in the hemicycle of the Palais-Bourbon. But in the absence of an absolute majority, the executive will have to, once again, fight to pass this bill, strongly opposed by the opposition.
The real battle can begin. From Monday, December 11, and for two weeks, the deputies examine in the hemicycle of the National Assembly the immigration bill, mainly defended by the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin. The text has already been adopted by the Senate at first reading on November 14. The right and center senatorial majority has considerably hardened the government’s copy, originally touted as “balanced”with a shutter “firmness” and a shutter “humanity”. In the law committee, the deputies refocused the text, returning, on December 2, to a version closer to that of the executive, thereby attracting the wrath of LR.
A few hours before the opening of the debates at the Palais-Bourbon, the presidential camp is holding its breath. Without an absolute majority and without an ally on this text, the Macronists will have to extract votes one by one while the vast majority of oppositions – with the exception of the small Liot group – are against this bill. Several deputies are waiting for discussions in session to decide on their vote. Franceinfo summarizes the points around which the debates risk crystallizing, mainly on the right and within the majority.
The regularization of undocumented workers in professions in shortage
This has been the Republicans’ “red line” for many months around this bill. In the initial version of the government text, article 3 provided for issuing “full right” a residence permit for “jobs in tension”valid for one year, for foreigners working illegally in sectors such as construction, industry, health professions or the hotel and catering industry, with a labor shortage.
The device was to come into force “experimentally” until December 31, 2026. An assessment of this measure was then to be sent to Parliament. Out of the question for the right, which denounced a measure which would lead “massive regularizations” And “a call of air”. “You are saying to the whole world: ‘Come, come, enter our borders illegally, don’t worry, you will have a job and above all, we will regularize you'”worried the boss of LR senators, Bruno Retailleau, on franceinfo, on October 31.
The senatorial majority therefore deleted this article to replace it with article 4 bis, which is much more restrictive for the applicants. It provided in these sectors of activity a residence permit granted by the prefects “case by case” And “exceptionally”in “strictly supervised procedure” and accompanied by multiple conditions, including that of compliance with “values of the Republic”.
But in the law committee, the deputies modified this article again, which neither creates a procedure “discretionary” entirely in the hands of the prefect, as the senators wanted, nor an automatic right to regularization, according to the general rapporteur, Florent Boudié (Renaissance).
The new wording regulates the possibility for the prefect to oppose the issuance of the residence permit, citing cases of threat to public order, non-respect of the values of the Republic or even polygamy. The amended article also postpones the end of the testing date for the measure by two years, to the end of 2028. Unacceptable for the right, which sees it as an enforceable right to regularization. The LR group is “frontally opposed to this provision”, insisted MP Annie Genevard in the law committee. The discussions in the hemicycle therefore promise to be tense.
Immigration quotas
The deputies also largely reworked in committee an article voted by the Senate which provided for Parliament to set immigration quotas each year. To the great dismay of the right, it was transformed into an obligation for the government to present and justify each year “quantified objectives” for the next three years. A disposition “hypocritical”, castigated LR MP Annie Genevard. The left still sees it as a step towards a strict quota policy. “With numerical objectives, you can turn the term in all directions (…), so these are indeed quotas (…), it’s more than a red line, it’s useless”criticized the leader of the socialist deputies, Boris Vallaud.
Note that on this provision, the majority is far from being united. Laurent Marcangeli, the president of the Horizons group, pleaded on December 5 for a “quota” capped at 5,000 regularizations per year. The Minister of the Interior himself, with an outstretched hand to the right, said he was open to the establishment of a “quota”for example “8,000, 10,000 or 5,000” regularizations per year.
The general rapporteur of the bill, Florent Boudié, was very skeptical of the idea put forward by Gérald Darmanin. “The quantitative target, I don’t really see what that brings. What is the right number? No one will agree”, he retorted, skeptically. And to wonder about the fate reserved in this case for “10,001st” plaintiff, and the disputes that would result.
State medical aid
This is the other major point of tension among Les Républicains. Senators voted at the beginning of November to end state medical aid (AME), reserved for foreigners who have been in an irregular situation in France for more than three months, and which allows 100% coverage of medical and hospital care. They replaced it with the creation of emergency medical aid (AMU), reduced to a base refocused on serious illnesses, pregnancy-related care, vaccinations and preventive medicine examinations.
Many voices were raised within the presidential majority to criticize this suppression which, moreover, constitutes according to them a legislative cavalier (a measure unrelated to the bill).
It’s a question of “collective health”, argued Florent Boudié, during the examination of the laws in committee, while referring to the report of the former socialist minister Claude Evin and the former prefect LR Patrick Stefanini. In committee, the deputies of the majority but also of the left reestablished the AME, attracting the anger of the boss of the LR party, Eric Ciotti. “The government’s law once again becomes a cheap little text which will continue to encourage mass immigration”he launched on the social network X. The LR deputies thus tabled an amendment aimed at reintroducing the senators’ measure.
The crime of illegal residence and the end of the automaticity of land law
These are two provisions also introduced by the Senate, firmly opposed by the left, and deleted in the law committee. The elected representatives of the upper house had voted at the beginning of November the end of the automaticity of the soil law allowing children born in France of foreign parents to obtain French nationality when they come of age, but also the reinstatement of the offense of illegal residence (only accompanied by a fine).
On this last measure, MP Annie Genevard mentioned in committee “an essential marker” for the Republicans. Here again, the government and deputies of the presidential majority do not speak with the same voice since the general rapporteur Florent Boudié pleaded for its deletion while Gérald Darmanin is in favor of it. “I think the demand [des Républicains] deserves attention. I remind you that it was the left that removed it in 2012. I am open to a discussion”insisted the Minister of the Interior again in an interview with Nice morning, on December 8. The Republicans will not be the only ones to propose the return of this measure, since the Horizons group has also tabled an amendment to this effect.