Voting on a motion to reject the immigration bill would be “refusing to debate subjects that interest the French”, launched the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, on Monday at the National Assembly at the opening of the debates. “Who is afraid of debate? Those who will, in an unnatural alliance, agree so that the French do not see things moving forward,” said the minister again while a motion from environmentalists could lead to rejection of the text even before its substantive examination, if enough left-wing, LR and RN deputies voted for it.
“Of course this text deserves to be improved and the hand of the government is extended in the general interest”, also insisted the Minister of the Interior, who is trying to find a difficult path between the demands of severity of the right and the need to keep the presidential camp united behind the text.
A “reform” of State Medical Aid
“Of course this text deserves to be improved and the hand of the government is extended in the general interest”, also insisted the Minister of the Interior, who is trying to find a difficult path between the demands of severity of the right and the need to keep the presidential camp united behind the text. Proof of this “outstretched hand”, the minister announced from the platform of the hemicycle that the government was going to initiate a reform of State Medical Aid (AME) “from the beginning of 2024”.
“The government is committed in the very near future, from the start of 2024, to responding to the demands and questions asked by the senators,” launched Gérald Darmanin, explaining that he had written to the “presidents of groups” in Parliament to “announce the submission of texts which allow the reform of this AME”, a system which makes it possible to cover the health costs of undocumented foreigners. “France cannot be the only country in Europe not to debate a subject of sovereignty, humanity and the future,” the minister further addressed the deputies.
“The debates (…) must not be in the backyards, in political offices, nor in the chiaroscuro of cabinet or party meetings,” insisted Gérald Darmanin, while the LR and RN groups continued their internal discussions to find out if they would join their voices with the left to adopt the motion to reject. “The majority has shown that it is ready to compromise but to make compromises it takes at least two,” declared later from the same platform the president of the Law Commission Sacha Houlié (Renaissance). “Mr. (Gérald) Darmanin does not have to give lessons in democracy, debate, responsibility to the deputies, knowing that the government has been twisting the arm of the National Assembly since he took office”, retorted in front of journalists RN deputy Julien Odoul.