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Frances immigration reform legislation, which was approved by the French senate earlier this month with added amendments even tougher on immigration than the original bill, faces at least three major challenges as French President Emmanuel Macron seeks to pass it through the Chamber of Deputies.

Discussions on the bill began this week on Monday, November 27th.

MP Ccile Rilhac, a member of En Commun and an ally of President Macron, told broadcaster Franceinfo, that there were two red lines, which, if crossed, would mean she and her allies would not be able to vote for the bill.

The first red line related to the regularisation of illegal undocumented workers, with Rilhac stating,

There must be the possibility of regularisation of foreign workers. Thats for sure. The fact that it is related to jobs in short supply always raises the question, in this case, of the regular rewriting of this list of jobs in short supply.

We want there to be a basic right, that is, undocumented workers can, at their request, be regularised.

The second red line involves a proposal to take away state medical aid (AME) from illegal immigrants. The AME currently covers all of their medical costs, rather than just emergency care.

According to a 2021 report, the French taxpayer was paying around a billion euros per year to cover the healthcare of illegal immigrants due to the fact that hundreds of thousands were benefitting from the scheme.

Rilhac added that she and her allies would not vote for any bill that scrapped the AME for illegal immigrants and that some of her allies would go further and vote against the bill. The French Senate already voted to scrap AME for illegal migrants entirely and only cover emergency care.

A third red line involves labour market access to asylum seekers from countries likely to receive refugee status. This was rejected by the French senate, which is largely controlled by right-wing parties such as the centre-right Les Republicains.

Sacha Houli, a member of President Macrons party Renaissance, stated that the Macron-allied parties and the Left would seek to restore the proposal to allow asylum seekers immediate access to the French labour market if it was likely they would receive asylum.

A group of 17 Les Republicains MPs, meanwhile, stated they would vote for the bill if the spirit of the Senates project prevails. This could open the door for some changes to the bill supported by the Macron faction and the Left, as the rest of the right-wing parties have stood firm on their support for the Senate version.

The openness of Les Republicains MPs could also allow the Macron government to avoid having to enact Article 49.3, which grants the French executive power to force bills into law even if they do not have a majority of votes in the French parliament.

The article was used earlier this year in March to force through a controversial retirement reform which raised the age of retirement from 62 to 64 and led to widespread protests and strikes.

In a 2021 survey, 71% of French said that there has been enough immigration to France and that they had little desire for more, while 64% said they did not wish France to take in any more refugees due to concerns regarding terrorism. A survey from April 2023 showed that 82% of French citizens favoured an immigration law that would facilitate easier deportations of illegal immigrants.

Another poll from 2021 found nearly 7 in 10 French people believed in the theory of the Great Replacement coined by writer Renaud Camus, which asserts that elites in government and business are driving the demographic replacement of native peoples in Europe and elsewhere through mass immigration policies.

Originally posted here:
French Immigration Reform Bill Faces Conflict on Three Major Points - The European Conservative