“I have a hangover feeling.” With these words, Macronist MP Sacha Houlié acknowledged this Wednesday the wear and tear that the adoption of the immigration law will leave on the coalition of French President Emmanuel Macron. After eight days of soap opera, the National Assembly passed the law around midnight on Tuesday, known as Darmanin, after the Minister of Internal Affairs. more challenging immigration texts last decades in France. He did this thanks to your votes. Marine Le Pen’s National Regrouping (RN). To move this forward, the centrist Executive made many concessions to the administration. republican right And far right. And now this could lead to something government crisis.
The first cracks appeared this Wednesday resignation between Minister of Health Aurélien RousseauBecause of their disagreement with the new law, as government spokesman Olivier Véran explained at the press conference after the Council of Ministers. Rousseau, who will appoint Agnès Firmin-Le Bodo as head of the health department, warned on Tuesday that he would resign if the controversial rule continues. This Wednesday morning He is not in the Council of MinistersThis sparked some rumors that were finally confirmed hours later. Four other ministers from the less conservative wing of the government (Culture, Universities, Industry and Transport) have also planned the same possibility, but they do not currently appear willing to go that far.
Is the Minister of Health resigning?
“President of the Republic Rousseau’s resignation was not accepted. (…) We must stop commenting on things that did not happen,” the prime minister said this morning. Elisabeth Borne, to France Inter radio station. Borne tried to downplay his minister’s possible resignation. Little known to most French people, Rousseau, a senior official who was formerly a member of the Communist Party, is a key player in the Government. It was like that until July Prime Ministry Private Secretary and one of his main collaborators.
After swallowing a hard to digest toad on Tuesday (the law imposed by the Republicans (LR, PP related) and containing numerous articles containing a radical discourse on immigration issues), the Macron Government is now trying to throw the ball out. Move along, everything is fine. This does not mean that the Darmanin law contains measures that are ultimately evaluated as: red line For macronism until a few weeks ago. After the first vote against it in the Parliament on December 11, the final content of the law was discussed in a commission consisting of 14 deputies and senators. Since LR was clearly in the majority in the Senate, they had the upper hand in this negotiation. And this was reflected in the final design of the text, Presented by Le Pen as an “ideological victory”.
Possible “unconstitutional measures”
Darmanin’s law was originally conceived as follows: facilitate and expedite the deportation of immigrants foreigners who have committed serious crimes, as well as those in a disorderly situation. I also intended to create one special residence permit For those working in labor-short occupations, this is something that gets lost in the final text. After all, it includes measures that the far right has been advocating for decades. For example, it requires more restrictive conditions to strangers seek social assistance —five years of residence to claim rental assistance—eliminates automatic access to citizenship from age 18 for those born in France, or “bail” for students from outside the European Union.
Borne acknowledged this Some of these measures may be unconstitutional. “The President will consult the Constitutional Council (the equivalent of the Constitutional Court) and we will see how it responds,” he told France Inter. said. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin had already hinted on Tuesday that the toughest parts would be very difficult to implement and that he would be responsible for the implementation decrees he would prepare. Darmanin said this to calm internal tensions within Macronism. And avoid too many desertions In the vote in the Parliament.
Despite everything, 62 MPs sympathize with Macron (out of 248 total in the presidential coalition) They refused to support the law27 people voted against it and 35 abstained. This was the initiative that produced greater results section This is in macronism in the second period. No doubt this represented the icing on the cake of a terrible year for the president.