The Senate printed during the night from Wednesday to Thursday a tightening of the most emblematic part of the immigration bill, concerning regularization in professions in tension, a turn of the screw deemed “acceptable” by the government, in search of an agreement at all costs in Parliament.
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At the heart of the examination of a text mainly focused on the control of immigration and the simplification of procedures for expulsion of delinquent foreigners, this system of integration of immigrants through work has crystallized the debates for months… And the upper house did not escape the ambient tension, after an evening of invective in session.
Building on an agreement negotiated in extremis between the two sides of its right-wing and center majority under the approving eye of the government, the Senate removed the executive’s initial measure and immediately replaced it with its own restricted system. Exit therefore article 3, which allowed the granting of a residence permit “as of right” to undocumented workers in sectors with a labor shortage. Praised by the left wing of the presidential camp, the measure was set up as a red line by the Republicans, who see it as an “automatic right” and fear a “draft”.
Place now on article “4 bis”, which provides in these sectors of activity a residence permit granted by the prefects “ case by case ” And ” exceptionally “, in ” strictly supervised procedure » and accompanied by multiple conditions, including that of respecting the “ values of the Republic “.
Right markers
The compromise found by the senatorial majority (226 votes against 119) is “ acceptable to the government », Estimated the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin, who explained that this section would lead to the publication of a “ new circular “.
We heard the compromise found by the senatorial majority that we were calling for. It is of course acceptable to the government.
The deletion of article 3, “acceptable” for Darmanin, provokes the anger of the left
Darmanin will submit this draft to the National Assembly in December, where the presidential camp does not have an absolute majority. Long divided on this measure, LR and centrist senators agreed to avoid an outright rejection of the text, a hypothesis described by some as “ dramatic ” for the ” legitimacy » of the High Assembly.
The solemn vote scheduled for Tuesday on the entire text should confirm a very severe tightening of the reform, with several markers of the right already integrated: abolition of state medical aid, tightening of family reunification, migration quotas, restoration of crime of illegal residence…
Way of passage?
“ This text is the cabinet of horrors, a capitulation in the open countryside of the government, a game of bonneteau where an article is deleted to rewrite it worse », indignant the environmentalist senator Thomas Dossus. The president of the socialist group Patrick Kanner gave him a “ darmanization of the text of the law » and asked Mr. Darmanin to “ launch a wanted notice for a missing minister », a tackle on the absence from the bench this week of Olivier Dussopt, Minister of Labor who initially carried the section “ integration ” of text.
With this muscular text emerging, is the government creating a path through the Assembly with the votes of the LR group or its abstention? This last “ could be satisfied with the Senate’s copy », recognized LR MP Annie Genevard at the Association of Parliamentary Journalists (AJP). With a major downside: “ I am especially waiting to see what the National Assembly will do with it “.
The right is in fact constantly brandishing the threat of a motion of censure if the government prefers to activate article 49.3 to avoid a vote, even if this has little chance of succeeding without the support of the left.
(with AFP)