The French upper house Senate has begun debating a controversial immigration bill that the government says will bolster security for legal migrants. But opponents see it as new evidence of a move to the right by President Emmanuel Macron.
Left-wingers reject the draft law's bid to expel more people and toughen conditions for irregular migrants, while conservatives' hackles have been raised by provisions to regularise the situation of undocumented workers in sectors with labour shortages.
It is the right flank that poses the biggest obstacle to President Macron and his minority centrist government passing the legislation.
Conservative MPs' votes will be needed to get the bill through the lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, while the right has a majority in the upper house, the Senate.
"This text is about firmness," Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Sunday, drawing on language meant to appeal to the conservative Republicans party.
Describing it as "essential" to crackdown on "foreign delinquents", he vowed to "find a way to get (the bill) through parliament".
Le projet de loi que je présente demain au Sénat est essentiel.
— Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) November 5, 2023
Une loi de fermeté contre les étrangers délinquants.
Une loi de fermeté contre l’immigration irrégulière.
Une loi de fermeté contre les criminels que sont les passeurs. pic.twitter.com/TBEPK0Kd8v
But several attempts to get the Republicans on board over the past year have fallen flat and there is little sign that this time will be different.
"We can't have a bill that wants both to expel more people and regularise more people," Bruno Retailleau, the leader of the Senate conservatives, told French news agency AFP.
He said any easing up of immigration law would be a "sign of weakness".
President Macron on Sunday proposed broadening constitutional rules governing the type of social issues like immigration that can be put to referendum.
The bone thrown towards the right has so far had little visible effect on rhetoric around the immigration bill.
The legislation has been repeatedly postponed and should arrive in the National Assembly in January.
Remove and integrate
As elsewhere in Europe, right-wingers claim that France's asylum system mainly attracts people looking for better economic conditions.
The number of people seeking asylum reached over 137,000 last year, up 31.3 percent year-on-year and just shy of a 2019 record.
Expulsions have also been stepped up, to almost 15,400 last year – 15 percent higher than in 2021.
But Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne on Monday rebuffed claims that regularising undocumented workers would create a "pull effect" and increase migration.
Article 3 de la loi immigration : "Il s'agit de permettre à des personnes qui sont sur notre territoire depuis des années, bien intégrées, de pouvoir être régularisées", explique @Elisabeth_Borne. "L'intention n'est pas de faire des appels d'air", dit-elle. #le710inter pic.twitter.com/y1qkQEGw1C
— France Inter (@franceinter) November 6, 2023
Regularisations would benefit "people who've been on our territory for years, who are well integrated, who've been working for years", she told broadcaster France Inter.
The bill aims "to more quickly remove those who shouldn't be here and at the same time to better integrate those who should remain," Borne said.
She nevertheless revealed continuing divisions within government when she opposed removing state medical aid for undocumented people, calling it "a question of public health".
Compromise
Interior Minister Darmanin has said he plans to "eliminate" the aid, replacing it only with cover for emergencies – calling it a step towards "a good compromise" with the Republicans.
Such talk, along with plans for annual migration quotas set by parliament and restrictions on allowing people to rejoin their families already in France, has drawn opposition from aid groups and left-leaning politicians.
A protest was planned on Monday outside the Senate building in Paris' touristic left bank district.
On Monday, the NGO Human Rights Watch published a report on the bill, stating that it "threatens to limit rights of asylum seekers and migrants."
"The French authorities are trying again to put forward a deeply flawed set of immigration measures,” said Eva Cossé, senior Europe researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Dividing families and watering down rights for asylum seekers is not the answer to the country’s security concerns."
“Rolling back human rights protections won’t make France safer.”
— Laureen Garcin (@laureengrcn) November 6, 2023
In #France, asylum seeker and migrant rights are put at risk as draft immigration law is to be debated at the Senate this week. Lawmakers should ensure safeguards and humane treatment. 👉 https://t.co/ulOmObeiRl pic.twitter.com/FawY6VF87Q
'Botched job'
Debate around immigration was stoked in France over the summer by mass arrivals in Italy and a visit by Pope Francis to the southern French port city Marseille, where he urged people to welcome migrants.
Last month's killing of a teacher by a Russian migrant with apparent jihadist beliefs has further ramped up the pressure.
The government believes public opinion is on its side, with 87 percent in favour of changing immigration rules according to an Opinionway survey for daily Le Parisien.
Large majorities were also in favour of the individual measures in the bill, according to the survey.
Meanwhile the far-right National Rally (RN), formerly the National Front, of Marine Le Pen sees opportunity in its pet theme dominating political debate ahead of next year's European Parliament elections and in the long climb to the 2027 presidential election, when Macron cannot stand again due to term limits.
The immigration law was "a botched job", RN vice-president Sebastien Chenu told broadcaster RTL on Sunday, while saying the party's 80 MPs could vote for it in the hope of "small results".
(with AFP)
