The Constitutional Council largely censored, this Thursday, January 25, the Immigration law adopted on December 19, 2023, by removing numerous firm measures obtained by the right.
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The Sages censored more than a third of the articles. Thirty-two are judged to have no sufficient link with the text, including the tightening of access to social benefits, family reunification, or the establishment of a “return deposit” for foreign students. Three other articles are partially or totally censored on the merits, including the establishment of migration quotas set by Parliament.
Nevertheless, the Constitutional Council validated “ the entire government text », welcomed the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin. “ Never has a text provided so many means for expelling delinquents and so many requirements for the integration of foreigners. », wrote on X (ex-Twitter) the minister, who “ takes note » of the censorship of the additions obtained by the right to the government’s initial text.
Immigration law: the Constitutional Council validates the entire text of the Government: never has a text provided so many means for expelling delinquents and so many requirements for the integration of foreigners!
The Government takes note, as I was able to indicate during…— Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) January 25, 2024
Conversely, the boss of the RN Jordan Bardella denounced “ a coup by the judges, with the support of the President of the Republic himself “. “ The immigration law is stillborn. The only solution is the referendum on immigration “, he insisted.
The body was seized at the end of December by the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, the President of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, and by left-wing deputies and senators following a high-tension debate in the National Assembly which had fractured the majority and led to the resignation of the former Minister of Health, Aurélien Rousseau.
Many articles borrowed from the far-right
The text had been toughened by the Senate, where the right is in the majority, after its rejection in the National Assembly, following the adoption of a prior rejection motion. These are 86 articles – out of 27 initially – which were finally retained by a joint joint commission and definitively voted on December 19 by Parliament.
Articles borrowing, according to their many detractors, from the themes of “ national preference » of the far right – the National Rally – and the conservative right – Les Républicains -, such as the establishment of migration quotas, the tightening of family reunification and access to social benefits for legally resident foreigners not coming not from the European Union.
The censorship of the Sages is not a surprise, the executive itself having anticipated partial unconstitutionality. “ Measures are manifestly and clearly contrary to the Constitution », admitted the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, to the National Assembly on December 19.
(With AFP)