It’s time for optimism. After the announcements about the executive’s immigration policy, the government wants to believe that its majority, which had seriously faltered in 2018 during the asylum-immigration bill, will join. But the left, however, could be tempted to make its voice heard.
“The future text will be a good balance between the angelism of the left and the migratory obsession of the National Association,” Maud Bregeon, spokeswoman for Renaissance in the National Assembly, assures BFMTV.com.
“We walk on our two legs”
Eager to debunk the future immigration bill, which will be examined by the Senate in early 2023 before reaching the Palais-Bourbon, Olivier Dussopt and Gérald Darmanin stepped forward in a joint interview at the World. With one line: present a “balanced” text that facilitates the regularization of workers in an irregular situation who are already in France, while facilitating measures to improve the rate of deportation to the border.
This quite new format, which allows giving “a little salt” and “a little sweet” on the immigration issue, according to an expression that the executive likes, has seduced the ranks of the majority.
“We show that we walk on our two legs with a solidary and integrating component embodied by the Minister of Labor and another that hardens the tone on the conditions for granting residence permits”, the deputy Quentin Bataillon intends to convince.
“Slingers” who lost the legislative elections
Which offers a little oxygen and ensures that the majority votes unanimously on this future bill. If the executive puts so many forms on him, it is because he has kept a bad memory of the debates in the Chamber. In 2018, a dozen deputies did not vote for the text and occupied the media field to assert their opposition. In the absence of a relative majority, this time it is not a question of dispensing with all the votes of the presidential majority.
But the face of Renaissance elected officials changed during the last legislative elections. Those who shook the majority at the time often lost the last legislative elections, like Sonia Krimi or Jean-Michel Clément. Others continue to be chosen, but now under the Nupes label like Aurélien Taché.
The executive is also careful to “treat” the deputies considered to be on his left, such as Stella Dupont. The elected official of Maine-et-Loire, who had already argued her opposition in 2018, in recent weeks, for example, voted in favor of an amendment on superprofits and introduced another on nursing homes, each time in against Bercy’s opinion.
A fear about the president of the Legal Commission
This former socialist will co-pilot the working group that will work on the future text and will have at his side Mathieu Lefèvre, former special adviser to Gérald Darmanin. Enough to assure the Place Beauvau tenant of the accurate follow-up of the discussions.
There were also exchanges with Sacha Houlié, president of the legal commission. The one whose commission will work on the text has already crossed swords with the Home Secretary. Last August, the deputy then asked for the right to vote for foreigners in municipal elections.
The response was not long in coming from the minister’s entourage, who quickly told BFMTV that they were “firmly against it.” If the deputy for Vienne did not respond to our requests, he still sent a message on Friday in France 2returns to rebuke the Interior, judging “unconstitutional” and “undesirable” its proposal to generalize the expulsion of the families of offenders from their social housing.
“I’m not sure as head of the law commission he can really make his difference heard. At some point, when you lead one of the most important bodies of the National Assembly, you do the job”, however, a ministerial adviser clarifies.
A majority that “has veered to the right”
In more general terms, the sociology of deputies has changed a lot since the last legislative elections, much to the relief of the executive.
“The deputies who lost were those from constituencies rather to the left and many times against immigration reform. And the new deputies often won in territories rather labeled as LR. The center of gravity of the majority really shifted to the right” , deciphers a deputy from the Ile-de-France Region.
Among the faces of the majority that could shed light on this text among the members of the Legal Commission, are Benjamin Haddad and Marie Lebec, both passed through the ranks of the UMP, predecessor of the LR.
Darmanin in front of the deputies to demine
Last cartridge used by Gérald Darmanin: his presence on Thursday morning during the meeting of the group of majority deputies.
“We understood the objective: to be able to settle our divisions internally, our doubts about the text in order to be able to present a copy without setbacks next winter,” summarizes one of the pillars of the majority.
An operation of seduction enough? The National Assembly will host a non-voting debate on immigration policy in December. What to see if the Minister of the Interior has been successful in his bet.
Source: BFM TV
