After the pension reform, Emmanuel Macron attacks another totem of the right of government: immigration reform. Finally ! Because it has now been seven months since the immigration bill was presented to the Council of Ministers and almost a year since its outlines were outlined by the executive. Postponed to carry out pension reform head-on and then once again adjourned to give the government a hundred days of appeasement, the legislative journey of this reform reflects the difficulties of political leaders in putting immigration issues on the table. Yet there is urgency at a time when, let us remember, the annual report of the general controller of places of deprivation of freedoms recalled that in 2022, of the 65,076 OQTF pronounced, only 6.9% of them have could be executed and where asylum requests have increased almost sevenfold in twenty-five years. A latest survey highlights that 77% of French people believe that society does not integrate foreigners well and that 81% of them see the fight against illegal immigration as failing. So many figures which sanction forty years of immigration reforms but above all go unsaid.
Why do we still have so much difficulty voting for effective measures to address immigration issues? Firstly because during these debates, it is always the caricature which prevails over moderation. Indeed, on the left as on the right, it is indeed the voices of the extremes and demagogues of all sides who manage to be heard, directing the debates on two irreconcilable sides: angelism or hatred. The moods of the government parties are another element of explanation. To avoid being assimilated to one of these extremes, they have long preferred to opt for the status quo and minimal reforms. As a result, sensitive issues are never really addressed. The social hyper-attractiveness of France for immigrants is typical of these things left unsaid.
However, the work of the senatorial majority of the right and center during the first week of examination of the text made it possible to break some taboos. First of all, by stating that a text on immigration policy had to be a purely sovereign reform. The replacement of article 3, a pure concession from the government to its left wing, has the merit of clarifying the objective: to fight against immigration and not, via professions in tension, to create “at the same time” a new sector of ‘immigration.
Furthermore, the reform was enriched by concrete measures: non-emergency elimination of state medical aid, tightening of family reunification, multi-year migration quotas, reinstatement of the offense of illegal residence. Arrangements which are not taken out of cheerfulness but out of the need to make our immigration policy, selective immigration and the integration process, a more effective path. The government has also understood this well by increasing the number of “advice of wisdom” to parliamentarians. Necessary corrections but which remain not sufficient as the problem is great and has been hidden for too many years. A reform, one more, condemned to call for another, of greater magnitude this time…
There is great fear that, from December, the bill will return to the same faults as the previous ones. Because in the National Assembly, 239 deputies from Nupes and the National Rally will put on a show for many weeks. On the majority side, certain Renaissance deputies have already promised to restore the original project. It is up to Emmanuel Macron to gather his support so that in the National Assembly the provisions taken by the Senate are preserved and that, in the absence of lasting solutions to resolve the failures of our migration policy, this progress remains. The right will, whatever happens, have had the merit for the first time in a long time of asking the right questions and the courage not to let itself be locked into what is left unsaid.
If the Head of State, with the pension reform and then that of immigration, was able to seize the totems of the right of government, it is clear that for the moment, the taboos cannot be broken without She. It’s up to him to draw the consequences.
Jean-Français Copé is a former minister and LR mayor of Meaux