Emmanuel Macron has not always been consistent in terms of migration policy, but if there is one subject on which he has never varied, it is the importance of labor immigration for the French economy. On several occasions, and without mincing words, he recalled that certain sectors of the economy could not operate without foreign workers. A way of responding to those who think that “foreigners steal the work of the French”. Directly concerned, the trades of the hotel business, the building, the maintenance or the services to the person, difficult, in staggered hours, often little paid. Privately, some employers agree that they recruit undocumented migrants.
With their “short-term occupations” residence permit mentioned in The world, Gérald Darmanin and Olivier Dussopt, the Ministers of the Interior and Labour, therefore seem to be proposing a measure of common sense and in line with the needs of the economy. Several employers’ unions (agricultural or hotel, in particular) have also welcomed the idea. And all the more so since, since the Covid crisis, recruitment difficulties have further increased, reaching, in 2021, their highest level since 2011.
But the proposal was barely on the table when right-wing opponents of the executive already denounced the risk of “massive regularization”. Forcing Gérald Darmanin to clear mines. The residence permit will only last for one year, and will cease when the person changes sector, he specified. Quotas will be set, and they may not exceed the number of regularizations on a case-by-case basis carried out within the framework of the Valls circular (i.e. from 7,000 to 8,000 people per year), he added. And if employers want more foreign workers, they will have to pay for integration (French lessons, training, etc.), he continued. No question, in fact, at a time when Les Républicains are choosing their future president and are divided on the question, when the National Rally is on the lookout for the slightest error, of giving the feeling of granting papers to people entered the territory illegally, even though they had been working there for years. At the risk of imposing so many restrictions that the current legal framework will only be modified at the margin. And to leave each other in the hypocrisy so often denounced by a certain… Emmanuel Macron.