A new law which would see the country take a tougher stance on immigration has been passed by the French parliament – seeking to reduce access to welfare benefits for immigrants, introduce migration quotas, and make it harder for children of foreign nationals born in France to become French amongst other measures.
The law would also mean that a person with dual nationality who was sentenced for serious crimes against the police could lose French citizenship.
BBC said the legislation was passed after months of political wrangling, and that the bill was backed by both President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party and Marine Le Pen’s National Rally.
The law was amended to become a tougher measure after opposition parties refused to even debate a previous immigration bill which was opposed by both the left and the right in parliament.
A political furore has erupted over the measure, with politicians on the left accusing Mr Macron of making concessions to Marine Le Pen’s party. Health minister Aurélien Rousseau has offered his resignation in protest over the immigration bill which he sees as being too hardline.
However, in the run-up to European Parliament elections in six months in which immigration is expected to be a key issue, some political commentators see Macon’s measure as a move to re-assure voters and to prevent them moving to Le Pen’s party.
The French parliament has passed by a wide margin an immigration bill backed by President Emmanuel Macron after a rebellion within his party over the toughened-up legislation that had secured the endorsement of Marine Le Pen .
Nearly 40 of Macron’s MPs refused to vote for it. pic.twitter.com/QfslODZLM8
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) December 20, 2023
“This is our bill,” said Eric Ciotti, the leader of the Republican party. He described the bill as “firm and courageous”, echoing the views of other Conservative politicians.
France's far-right Marine Le Pen celebrates 'ideological victory' after President Emmanuel Macron is forced to fight division in his own party to pass tough immigration bill
via https://t.co/Z9KOv5oseR https://t.co/lI6vntdFqK— Edward Oakenfull (@EdwardOakenful1) December 20, 2023
Ms Le Pen welcome the legislation, saying: “We can rejoice in ideological progress, an ideological victory even for the National Rally, since this is now enshrined into law as a national priority.”
Her party only agreed to back the bill after Macron agreed to provide benefits to migrants after five years of residency – a significant change as legal migrants currently receive state benefits after six months.
However, the Communist Party leader Fabien Roussel, said the law was “directly inspired” by National Rally leaflets.
“With this text directly inspired by RN pamphlets against immigration, we are facing a shift in the history of the republic and its fundamental values,” he told reporters.
EU RULES
Meanwhile, the European Union has reached agreement on new rules which seek to spread the cost of hosting migrants more fairly and to limit the numbers of people arriving.
The New Pact on Migration and Asylum will take effect next year – and seeks to address procedures for handling asylum applications and rules on determining which EU country is responsible for handling those applications.
Greece, Italy and other countries have argued that they have been left with an unfair proportion of the burden – and the new system envisages that countries will have a choice between accepting refugees or paying into an EU fund.
An improved screening system is envisaged as distinguishing between genuine asylum seekers and other forms of migration.
In June, Poland hit out at an earlier version of the pact, saying it “will not agree to the imposition of absurd ideas on us”.
Some refugee support groups have also said they believe that screening at the EU’s borders will create what amounts to prison camps.