The immigration law could well be adopted this end of the year, but if the text evolves sufficiently to satisfy LR. And on condition that the left wing of the majority is satisfied with it.
The essential
- The immigration bill has not been examined: a motion to reject it was voted 270 to 265 in the National Assembly on December 11, 2023.
- To have this text adopted, Emmanuel Macron, Elisabeth Borne and Gérald Darmanin decided to convene a joint committee, which will be held at the beginning of the week.
- The joint committee has already been convened on Monday, December 18 at 5 p.m. at the National Assembly. As expected, its composition leans towards the right and could give the advantage to LR defenders of a more right-handed text. Negotiations took place Wednesday evening between LR officials and Elisabeth Borne.
- An agreement could be found and voted on by a majority in the Assembly under a few conditions: that LR obtains sufficient commitments on a text close to that voted in the Senate and that at the same time, the left wing of Renaissance obtains three commitments: a withdrawal of the AME reform, a withdrawal of the restriction on access to nationality for minors born in France, the withdrawal of the article limiting access to social benefits only to foreigners living for five years legal residence in France.
Live
10:36 – “Retake the Senate version”: only way to pass the immigration law?
After the setback suffered by the majority in the National Assembly and the criticism of the “cynicism” of the government parties, including LR, certain ministers are making appeals to the right. In the columns of FigaroBruno Le Maire judged that two conditions are necessary to reach an agreement: that the majority recognizes that it has suffered a defeat and that the winners, the LR, show a little leniency. Economy, which has been defending a firmer version of the text for several months, and whose old political family is that of the Republicans, also affirmed that “the only way today for such a law to pass is to resume the Senate version”. A significantly tougher version compared to the initial text.
09:32 – Gérald Darmanin wants to “reach out to the LR” for an agreement Monday or Tuesday
This Thursday, December 14, Gérald Darmanin was a guest on the RTL morning show. He admitted, once again, “a failure” of his text on immigration, before giving his vision of the agreement which could emerge quickly and take shape on Monday in the joint joint committee: “The new text will not be entirely the text of the Senate, but it is obvious that we must get closer to it”, he said, adding very clearly: “We are ready to reach out to the LR and the centrists”. Understand: what the right-wing senators voted for will be at the center of the new bill. The Minister of the Interior also excluded any use of 49.3 to have the text drafted by the joint committee adopted.
Gérarld Darmanin did not go into detail about the key measures which will remain or be integrated into the new text, but gave the main lines guiding his writing: “We need extremely strong and rapid measures against irregular immigration and foreign delinquents. . […] We each understood that we had to stop playing politics and have a text for the French.”
13/12/23 – 11:37 p.m. – Gérald Darmanin, in favor of a referendum on immigration
END OF LIVE – The Minister of the Interior spoke Wednesday evening on CNews. “We could have suspended the text, but we did not do so. We accepted the fact that the Senate text – which is different from what the government wanted – was presented. So we are open, we are reaching out. and in particular to the LR and the centrists”, he declared, revealing that he maintains that the general interest is to have “a firm, even very firm, text”. Asked about the role of Emmanuel Macron, Gérald Darmanin also revealed that the president had asked the government to find “an agreement with the LR”. Finally, the tenant of Beauvau said he was in favor of a referendum on immigration.
Learn more
Gérald Darmanin’s hobby horse, the immigration bill has caused a lot of discussion. Announced, rethought, then postponed, it finally began the legislative journey in the fall of 2023. And here again, the bill follows a turbulent path. After a week of debates in the Senate, the text of the Minister of the Interior – presented as a compromise between a firmer immigration policy and better integration measures – was adopted in a clearly toughened version under the impetus of the right who judged the initial project too lax.
The right is satisfied with the amended bill, it is the left and the left aid of the majority who worked in the Law Committee to soften the text and remove numerous decisions of the Senate. Result of the races: the bill arrived in a version barely harsher than at the start, which satisfied neither the right nor the left and whose adoption by the National Assembly was far from guaranteed. Result of the races, the rejection motion at the initiative of the environmentalists was adopted by the National Assembly on Monday, December 11. The immigration bill was therefore rejected by 270 votes to 265, a snub for Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin and the government. From now on, the text will be re-examined by a joint committee (CMP), a meeting of 7 deputies and 7 senators. This CMP will meet on Monday December 18, 2023 at 5 p.m. at the National Assembly.
At the genesis of the immigration bill is the desire to have “chosen immigration” in the words of the Minister of the Interior when he defended his project for the first time in February 2023. The idea is to proceed more easily to exclusions, to issuing fewer but better residence permits and better welcoming foreigners in a legal situation. Concretely, where is the text and what does it provide?
What to learn from the bill?
Rules to facilitate the expulsions of certain foreigners
This is the key subject of the immigration bill: better control of the presence of foreigners on the territory, particularly delinquent foreigners. Upon arrival at the National Assembly, the text provides for the possibility of expelling foreigners convicted of crimes punishable by at least five years of imprisonment and individuals constituting “serious threats to public order”. In these cases, expulsions will even be possible for people who arrived in France before the age of 13. The Senate lowered the threshold for foreigners sentenced to 3 years in prison, but the measure was deleted in the Law Committee. On the other hand, the senators managed to add to the bill the legalization of expulsions of foreigners convicted of domestic violence or committed against an elected official.
In addition to expulsions, the conditions for issuing obligations to leave French territory (OQTF) have been relaxed. The initial text planned to lift all protections preventing the use of an OQTF against foreigners considered to be “a serious threat to public order”. But the Senate lifted this final condition on the threat to public order, thereby removing all protections against an OQTF. Only minors can still be protected against this expulsion procedure according to the current text. Regarding minors, the bill also provides for a ban on placing foreign minors under the age of 18 in detention centers.
The Senate wanted to go so far as to issue OQTFs to rejected asylum seekers, but the measure was removed by the deputies. Note that these OQTFs, once issued, require the individual to leave France by their own means within a period of 30 days before the expulsion is, theoretically, carried out. As for appeals against these decisions, they are limited to four by the new bill, compared to twelve today.
Regularization through work and obtaining residence permits
“Choose immigration” involves selective issuance of residence permits. On this point, the bill provides for several measures, some of which are intended to facilitate the regularization of certain foreigners, starting with those who work in so-called “shortage” professions: a divisive point in the text. This measure is still planned although toughened by the Senate. It allows “exceptional” – and not automatic – regularizations after verification by the prefect for foreigners who have worked eight months out of the last 24 in “shortage” professions. In addition to these professions, other professions could allow highly qualified foreigners in certain disciplines to obtain a “talent” residence permit valid for four years, particularly in the medical field.
The text also provides for the granting of residence permits to foreigners who are victims of “sleep merchants” who have filed a complaint as well as to undocumented immigrants who are victims of working conditions incompatible with human dignity. However, in certain cases access to the residence permit has been tightened, in particular for foreign students who will, if the text is passed as it stands, have to justify the “seriousness of their study” to renew their permit each year.
To deliver these residence permits better and more quickly, the bill provides for a reform and decentralization of the National Court of Asylum (CNDA), the administrative jurisdiction which examines the appeals of asylum seekers rejected by the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (Ofpra), with the opening of regional branches. And decisions must be taken by a single judge and no longer a panel of three judges. According to the text, asylum requests must also be facilitated by support between the different administrations thanks to the “France asylum” territorial centers.
More difficult access to social assistance and family reunification?
The measures for access to social assistance for foreigners became significantly tougher after the passage of the text before the Senate, but many of the senatorial modifications were deleted in the Law Committee:
- The abolition of state medical aid (AME) and its replacement by emergency medical aid (AMU) giving access to a reduced list of care and against the payment of an annual flat rate;
- The extension of the length of regular stay in France to five years compared to six months to be eligible for certain social assistance;
- The removal of access to emergency accommodation for foreigners covered by an OQTF;
- The extension of the length of regular stay in France, the addition of regular income conditions and at a certain level, the obligation to have health insurance and to master the French language to be able to request family reunification. On this point only the extension of the length of stay and the income conditions have been removed, but the obligation to present clean criminal records has been added.
Hardened access to French nationality
The Senate, following the same logic, wanted to complicate the naturalization of foreigners and made obtaining French nationality conditional on an extension of the required duration of marriage (5 years instead of 4) or an extension of the duration of residence ( 10 years versus 5). He also decided to abolish land law for children born in France to two foreign parents. But all these measures were deleted in the Law Committees.
The fact remains that senators and deputies agreed to make it harder to obtain French nationality for children born in Mayotte: the two foreign parents of a child born in Mayotte must prove a longer period of residence in France for their offspring is naturalized. The text also provides for the limitation of family reunification to the nuclear family only, that is to say parents and minor children.