After the vote on the immigration law this Tuesday, December 19, the former President of the Republic François Hollande denounces a “defeat for the Republic”.
This Wednesday, December 20, the former head of state expressed his disappointment on his X account after the adoption of the new immigration law in the National Assembly on Tuesday. In particular, he denounced in his post the fact that the president and his government “did not take the votes of the National Front. They took its ideas.” In an interview with World published this Wednesday, the former president declares: “When, on fundamental principles, the Le Pen family considers having won an ideological victory, it cannot be a victory.”
At the microphone of France Inter this Thursday, December 21, François Hollande directly targeted Emmanuel Macron: “The role of the President of the Republic is to ensure unity, cohesion, to appease: but everything that has been done for several months has exactly the opposite effect. He in fact deplored the existence of a “deep division” in the country.
This Thursday morning, François Hollande also denounced Mr. Macron’s attitude and his lightness on a text integrating measures which are not in accordance with the law. He declared, ironically mocking the “cowardice” of his successor: “It’s a shame to say that we are passing a law which we know is unconstitutional: we are relying on the Constitutional Council to cancel arrangements. What courage!” According to him, this way of acting does not reflect a desire for “efficiency” on the part of the government but rather “to send symbols”. The former president also regretted the lack of “direction” and “coherence” in the policy of his former advisor.
In Le Monde, Mr. Hollande affirms that “Emmanuel Macron has successive convictions.” He then added that President Macron’s changing positions “deprive the country of direction, of coherence, of solidity.” The former president also clarified to France Inter that he is not “responsible for the evolution of President Macron”. He lamented to Le Monde that even if the president “came from the center left, Emmanuel Macron is now condemned to end up with the right, including the hardest right.”
In addition to the criticism directly addressed to his former Minister of the Economy, Mr. Hollande also denounced the voted text. He speaks of “a text written by the LR, under the dictation of the National Rally” which, according to him, risks accentuating “poverty in this country”. In the interview with Le Monde, he specified that according to him the law “will have no effect on irregular immigration, but it will worsen poverty for many families.” Still in Le Monde, the former head of state explains that with the measures relating to housing assistance (APL) and family benefits, “it’s a lock that has been broken”. According to him, “a law on immigration is legitimate when it comes to improving certain provisions on regularizations, correcting certain defects on deportations to the border.”