The government’s bill on immigration was approved Tuesday by deputies, by 349 votes to 186, paving the way for promulgation by President Emmanuel Macron and the entry into force of a text which will have put the executive in great difficulty.
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The French Parliament definitively adopted the immigration bill this Tuesday, 349 deputies voting for and 186 against, after a favorable vote by the Senate earlier in the evening, a victorious epilogue for the majority, but carrying serious political consequences. .
Deputies and senators agreed earlier in the day on a common version of the text, after long and difficult debates. In the hemicycle, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin praised a text which deserves to be voted for “ protection of the French “.
The minister welcomed the final vote by Parliament on his bill obtained “without the votes of RN deputies”. “ The immigration text is definitively voted on. A long fight to better integrate foreigners and expel those who commit acts of delinquency. A strong and firm text. Without the voices of RN deputies », he wrote on the social network X after the vote.
Controversial text
This controversial text, promised eighteen months ago by the Minister of the Interior, is “certainly not perfect, but it is a very difficult text which was voted on without 49-3”, the constitutional weapon which would have allowed adoption without a vote, welcomed Gérald Darmanin to the media as he left the chamber.
In substance, the text adopted Tuesday does not include a measure to abolish State Medical Aid, reserved for undocumented immigrants and whose fate was removed from the immigration bill and referred to a new text at the beginning of 2024 by the government, the Minister of the Interior was satisfied. “ On the contrary, there are regularization measures », he declared, after having promised earlier in the evening to double the number of regularizations of undocumented immigrants for work from next year.
Divisions within the majority
The RN and the right voted for the text, the left against, each group filling up with its votes except the communist group where it was one vote short. The majority, however, was divided with 20 votes against and 17 abstentions at Renaissance, 5 votes against and 15 abstentions at MoDem, and 2 votes against at Horizons.
The leader of France Insoumise, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, for his part denounced a “ sickening victory » acquired thanks to the voices of the extreme right. “ Without the 88 votes of the RN = 261, less than the absolute majority (which was 265, Editor’s note)! (…) A new political axis has been established “, he reacted on X.
The PS announced immediately after the vote an appeal from the Constitutional Council, an approach that the President of the Republic had already announced.
And the divisions go up to the government itself. Shortly after the vote on the text, the Minister of Health Aurélien Rousseau gave a letter of resignation to Élisabeth Borne, who did not announce whether she accepted it, a ministerial source told AFP confirming information of Figaro. He had made known his opposition to the version of the text considerably hardened by the right. Like Mr. Rousseau, several ministers unfavorable to the bill, such as Clément Beaune (Transport) or Sylvie Retailleau (Higher Education), were received in the evening at Matignon, according to corroborating government sources.
(With AFP)