The LR leadership presented its parliamentarians with a bill incorporating five articles of the immigration law censored in December by the Constitutional Council. But there is still a long way to go for a referendum.
The right has not said its last word on the immigration law. LR deputies Eric Ciotti and Olivier Marleix, as well as senator LR Bruno Retailleau presented Monday February 12 to the party’s parliamentarians a “proposal for a law reforming access to social benefits for foreigners”, which takes up five of the articles of the immigration law, voted on in December and censored by the Constitutional Council in January. This new text must serve as the basis for launching a shared initiative referendum.
“It’s an offensive that is legal, political and democratic,” explains Eric Ciotti to Figaro. For the first time, the French will be able to be consulted on immigration. It is time to give our compatriots a voice again on this subject.” Bruno Retailleau also sees in the organization of a referendum a response to the “crisis of representative democracy which is affecting our country”.
“The idea is that the Constitutional Council validates our initiative”
The RIP is a procedure which has never been successful in France, due to its complexity. The text must first garner the support of 185 parliamentarians, then it must be validated by the Constitutional Council, and finally it must obtain the signature of 10% of the electorate, or nearly five million French people. Only then can a referendum be organized. With its 62 deputies and 133 senators, LR should pass the first stage without difficulty.
“The idea is that the Constitutional Council validates our initiative,” indicates an LR executive. For this reason, the text selected five articles relating to “the notion of reform relating to the social policy of the nation within the meaning of the first paragraph of article 11 of the Constitution”. This article specifies the themes on which a referendum can be organized. Among the measures retained by LR, the transformation of State medical aid (AME) into emergency medical aid (AMU), the revision of price reductions on transport tickets for foreigners, or even the non-maintenance in accommodation granted under the national reception system for a person whose right to asylum has been rejected.
The last stage of the shared initiative referendum procedure will, however, be the hardest: until now, no one has managed to obtain the signatures of 10% of the electorate, necessary to initiate the organization of a referendum.