After a number of postponements, debates on the asylum and immigration bill finally began in the Senate. This text, which arouses heated controversy within the French Upper House, divides the opposition and even the majority. Two key measures have already been adopted, establishing immigration quotas and toughening the conditions for family reunification.
The debates in the Upper House were particularly lively, with the Senate’s openness to immigration reform. This bill, strongly contested by the opposition and associations, constitutes a real political trap for the government which has had to postpone it several times.
The government summarizes the spirit of its reform in a simple sentence: “Be mean to the bad and nice to the good.” However, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, decided to abandon this formula to favor the key words “firmness and simplification”, in order to achieve a text that was “firm, fair and above all effective”. Faced with an Upper House tilted to the right, he must indeed convince on the repressive aspect by facilitating in particular the expulsions of delinquent foreigners.
The first measure adopted by the High Assembly goes in the direction of strengthening immigration: the senators voted in favor of the establishment of migration quotas determined each year by Parliament, a long-standing demand of the right. Gérald Darmanin did not oppose this article added by the Senate, arguing that France, like all countries in the world, has the right to choose the people it wishes to welcome on its soil.
The Senate also adopted, despite opposition from the left, a tightening of the conditions for family reunification, which allows a foreigner to request the arrival in France of their spouse and children. It is, however, uncertain whether the left of the presidential majority, which is attached to the integration aspect of the text, will accept this type of measures with open arms in the National Assembly in December.
The path is narrow for the government if it wishes to avoid a new use of article 49.3 of the Constitution, which allows the text to be adopted without a vote but exposes itself to a motion of censure. The Republicans have brandished this threat, but it has little chance of succeeding without the support of the left.
The Prime Minister, Élisabeth Borne, has repeated on numerous occasions that the government will seek majorities to have the text adopted. Gérald Darmanin is also convinced of finding “a way through”, while opposing the use of article 49.3. However, Olivier Marleix, president of the LR deputies, described this assertion as “illusionist” on Europe 1.
The fate of the bill will first depend on the Senate, where the right and centrists hold the majority. They could reshape the text to their liking, provided they reach an agreement between them.
However, the two allies are struggling to find common ground on Article 3, which provides for a one-year renewable residence permit for undocumented workers in sectors with a labor shortage. This is a point on which the Republicans have established a red line and whose examination, scheduled for Tuesday or Wednesday, could be postponed pending a possible compromise.
“We cannot simultaneously want to expel more while regularizing more,” declared Bruno Retailleau, president of the LR senators. However, Élisabeth Borne responded that this measure would not cause “a surge” for illegal immigration, but rather would be a common sense measure widely supported, particularly by employers.
Marylise Léon, general secretary of the CFDT, also believes that article 3 is a minimum and that it is necessary to go beyond one year.
The measure divides even within the majority, the social wing of the macronie making it a totem. “The majority is attached to the balance of this text,” declared Stella Dupont, MP for the Renaissance group, saying she was “troubled” by certain “expressions” of the government. She says she is confident, but will not vote blindly in favor of the text.