The law pushed by President Emmanuel Macron caused a crisis within the government, because part of Macron’s centrist party considers the law too strict.
After a long political struggle, the French parliament has approved a new immigration law that restricts both immigration and the rights of immigrants.
Among other things, the new law limits social benefits for foreigners, tightens legislation on foreign students and sets quotas for the number of immigrants.
The granting of French citizenship to the children of foreigners will also become stricter, and French citizenship can be taken away from dual citizens convicted of serious crimes.
From now on, a foreigner can receive some social security benefits only after living in France for five years, or 2.5 years if working.
The law also includes a relaxation that enables people without work permits to work in sectors that suffer from labor shortages, for example in healthcare and the hotel and restaurant industry.
Resistance also in Macron’s party
The lower house of parliament passed the law by a vote of 349–186.
The law aroused fierce opposition even from the president Emmanuel Macron in his own Renaissance party, but the government defended it by “protecting the French”, says the British newspaper The Guardian.
Minister of the Interior by Gérald Darman according to which the government must take strict measures to curb immigration Marine Le Pen the rise of the far-right National Alliance. It is the largest opposition party in the French Parliament and at the top of opinion polls regarding the European elections.
However, the strictness of the law also raised resistance in the Renaissance party. Some of its MPs voted against the law. Minister of Health Aurelien Rousseau announced that he was resigning because of a law he considered too right-wing.
It was also opposed by the left-wing opposition. Communist MP Elsa Faucillon according to the government uses the words and ideas of the extreme right.
The extreme right itself has the same position. Marine Le Pen called the passage of the law an ideological victory. Member of Parliament of the National Alliance Edwige Diaz said that the law was undoubtedly inspired by Le Pen.
Along with the government party, the centre-right Republican Party and the extreme right voted in favor of the law. It would have passed even without the voices of the extreme right.
50 groups, including the French Federation of Human Rights, released a joint statement describing the law as the most regressive in 40 years for foreigners living in France.