Emmanuel Macron plays. He is playing with the idea of a referendum on immigration – an idea defended during the last presidential campaign by the right and the far right. And that frightens… the Macronists, those on the left of course, for whom wielding matches near a barrel of powder would be less risky. “It seems to me to be contrary to the will that he has been displaying since 2022, it does not seem to me to be a theme that promotes appeasement…”, whispers a fellow traveler.
Several figures in the presidential majority think exactly the same thing, even if none dares to stand out publicly. Referendum ? What a good idea, the Minister responsible for Democratic Renovation, Olivier Véran, often says. Who is thinking of asking the French… about wealth taxation for example? Referendum ? What a good idea, rejoices the President of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet. Who proposes… the end of life as a subject. On October 5 on CNews, she already warned that it was “no longer time to hold a referendum for the immigration bill”.
In the French public debate, to pronounce the word “immigration” is already to be right-wing. So, as soon as they hear it from the mouth of their president, these Macronists tremble. They haven’t forgotten anything. They remember Emmanuel Macron telling the Figaro, November 5, 2020: “I think it is wrong to say that the problem of terrorism is reducible to the problem of immigration. But we would be ineffective to say that there is not a part of terrorism that can be linked to a form of immigration.” For the first time, the President of the Republic establishes a link between terrorism and immigration. Several ministers look at their shoes: their embarrassment is palpable, from Christophe Castaner to Clément Beaune. They did not come for that… They remember the same saying to the same newspaper, on April 18, 2021: we must “welcome less perhaps, but to welcome better”.
And now the great leader is mixing immigration and referendum: they may not be bad words, but damn, it scares them. A bill on the subject still passes. Finally, on one condition: that he does not fracture the group in the National Assembly. In recent weeks, this is the impression given by the leader, Sylvain Maillard. The main thing about the content of the text was that it did not cause ruptures in the troops – the trauma of the Collomb law of 2018 is still in all Macronist memories. But a big debate followed by a vote throughout the country on the subject, damn…
Emmanuel Macron, how many divisions?
Before the summer holidays, Emmanuel Macron closed the door to the mention of a referendum on immigration. He did not even take the trouble to respond, in May, to the letter sent by the leaders of LR who asked him for it. On his return from Brégançon, he confided to his loved ones that he no longer shut up. In his letter to party leaders, revealed Sunday evening by Le Figaro, he proposes to consider whether draft laws relating to social issues can “be submitted to a referendum” (which is currently excluded by article 11 of the constitution). With two examples, “the end of life” but also “migratory issues”.
During a dinner at the Elysée, Richard Ferrand, the former president of the National Assembly, already issued a warning on the theme: the referendum is a machine for overcoming Parliament. If we expand Article 11, we need brakes, the agreement of Parliament before the referendum.” We have experienced more exuberant enthusiasm…
Emmanuel Macron, how many divisions? Regal issues divide the Elysée as much as they divide the Macronists. On immigration, on the reading of the Algerian war (is the repression of the demonstration of October 17, 1961 a “state crime”?), on the question of foreign minors and the role of the judge children, on the migrant camps, on the fate of the boat the day before yesterdayAquarius off the Mediterranean coast, yesterday theOcean Vikingthe palace speaks in several voices, in any case thinks in several ways.
If there is anyone who will not be surprised by the display of these different sensibilities, it is Gérald Darmanin: since his arrival at Place Beauvau, he has clearly seen the different circles which, at the Elysée, seek to influence the head of the State, he has identified those who, in the president’s own entourage, are always inclined to put forward sociological explanations – “the Télérama background”, he sometimes jokes.
“Emmanuel Macron will do nothing, he took the referendum on immigration as an example because it is brandished by LR and the RN,” says a close friend. Simple political maneuver to lure the leaders of these parties? Or an attempt to change minds on the other side? “Macron has, as leader of the central bloc, the responsibility to open up issues and make this Télérama left understand that the world has changed and that by remaining stuck in the Harlem Désir years, there is a threat disappearance, assures a friend. He knows very well that he is putting pressure by doing that.” Where we find the idea of playing with matches near a barrel of powder…
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