A bill presented twice in the Council of Ministers is a sign of stuttering. Government spokesman Olivier Véran announced on Wednesday May 10 that the immigration bill would be presented in July… after having already been presented on February 1. The Interior puts things into perspective: out of 27 articles, two pose a problem, that on residence permits for shortage occupations and that on the integration of asylum seekers through work.
As the crisis on the Franco-Italian border continues and the reports on the magnitude of the migratory flows are again increasing, Emmanuel Macron, Elisabeth Borne, Gérald Darmanin, Olivier Dussopt, Yaël Braun-Pivet, Gérard Larcher, Sacha Houlié and the leaders of LR (we hope not to forget anyone) have decided to play mistigri around the immigration bill. Programmed, voted on in committee in the Senate, suspended, split into several texts, announced again in a single text before the summer, postponed until the fall and now again the subject of a month of consultations: the scenario is literally incomprehensible. Whose fault is it ?
At the Elysée, the first culprit is all found: Gérard Larcher is in the countryside, “we tend to forget him”, says an adviser to Emmanuel Macron. From there would come his stiffening on the subject. One point is correct: the President of the Senate makes the refusal of Article 3, which provides for the creation of a “shortage jobs” residence permit, a matter of principle, regardless of the number of people concerned, arguing that it there are already “500,000 unemployed foreigners in France”. But Gérard Larcher also takes pleasure in recalling that from day one, the right-wing senators indicated that a cut-to-size text was impossible.
Elisabeth Borne, a designated culprit?
The second culprit, in the eyes of the Presidency of the Republic, would he be called Elisabeth Borne? That the Prime Minister announced on April 26, two days after an interview with the Head of State saying the opposite in The Parisian, that the bill would wait until the fall was a signal appreciated at its fair value by the Castle. Who readily recalls that “the president wants a text”. All in her desire to “heal”, Elisabeth Borne was able to give the impression, after the episode of 49.3 on pensions, of not being in a hurry to put this “particular and complicated” subject back at the heart of the agenda. as he sometimes describes it in a small committee.
But Matignon, put under pressure by “the 100 days” that Emmanuel Macron pulled out of his hat, can now be tempted to play the good students, including on this ground. While leaving Gérald Darmanin and Olivier Dussopt – who are not among Elisabeth Borne’s favorite ministers – find a solution. The Prime Minister also notes the reality on the ground and was obliged to react to the situation on the Franco-Italian border, by announcing the mobilization of 150 additional police officers and gendarmes in the Alpes-Maritimes and the creation of a “border force”. from summer.
Whose fault is it ? To Elisabeth Borne? On the right but also among some in the majority, things are established: with this Prime Minister culturally insensitive to the theme and politically not in a position to agree with LR on such a bill, nothing would be possible. In April, the head of government telephoned Gérard Larcher to ask him what the attitude of the LR deputies would be. In addition to knowing the senators better, he hastened to send the hot potato back. Whose fault is it ? To Sacha Houlié, the Renaissance president of the Assembly’s Law Commission, the embodiment of this wing of the majority which would make any agreement with LR impossible and would still plead for several texts, it is said on the side of the Republicans. On the right, unable because of its internal differences to agree with the executive, we reply to the government.
stop playing with fire
We cannot say that at the Hotel de Lassay, Yaël Braun-Pivet, another figure at the epicenter of the presidential majority, was particularly upbeat. “The priority for our compatriots is action that is resolutely focused on their daily concerns. […] The subject of immigration does not seem to me to fit into this immediate framework”, she said in the Sunday newspaper three days ago…
Whose fault is it ? Macronism and its sacrosanct “at the same time”, underline, for once in unison, the leaders of LR. The right is preparing a counter-offensive in the field of immigration with two proposals which will be presented at the beginning of June.
This bill, which has been tossed around since the beginning of the second five-year term, has thus become the emblem of the political situation born of the legislative elections and the risks of powerlessness that it generates. While the Elysée and the ministers follow one another to explain that no, the Parliament is not blocked, the vagaries around the immigration text underline two points: Emmanuel Macron only has a relative majority; to reach a compromise, it takes (at least) two people. The president of the Renaissance group in the Assembly, Aurore Bergé, is now pleading with Elisabeth Borne and Gérald Darmanin “so that we assume to put everyone around the table at the same time, the LRs, the centrists, the majority, and that we find a way together – or not”. History to stop playing mistigri and in this case, on such a sensitive subject, to play with fire.