Arthur de Laborde with AFP / Photo credits: Ludovic MARIN / AFP
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7:08 p.m., December 11, 2023
The deputies voted on Monday for the rejection motion tabled by environmentalists on the immigration bill, defended in the National Assembly by the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin. In total, 270 elected officials, including the RN and LR groups, voted for the motion, against 265 votes against. This text will therefore not be debated in the hemicycle.
The National Assembly approved on Monday the motion for prior rejection of the immigration bill, by 270 votes for and 265 votes against. This is a hard blow for Gérald Darmanin, who defended his bill in the chamber. Faced with Sonia Mabrouk on Europe 1/CNews Monday morning, the Minister of the Interior spoke of “a denial of democracy” in the event of adoption of the rejection motion. This leads to the interruption of examination of the text even before the substantive articles are discussed.
What the government can do after the motion to reject
The government can now choose to let the text continue its legislative journey in the Senate or in a joint committee bringing together deputies and senators, or decide to abandon it. “All I want is for the government to continue, because it can do so, in its desire to provide answers to the problem of immigration,” reacted the president of the Horizons group (party of Edouard Philippe) Laurent Marcangeli, member of the majority.
The left and the RN welcomed the adoption of the rejection motion standing in the hemicycle, with left-wing deputies calling for the resignation of Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin. This rejection is also a snub for the latter, who bet on finding a way, particularly with the right, to get his text passed to the National Assembly, after its adoption in the Senate in a strongly toughened version.
“An extremely powerful disavowal”, according to Marine Le Pen
Gérald “Darmanin has tamed the small Macronist groups. But not the National Assembly. It feels like the end of the road for his law and therefore for him”, judged the rebellious leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon on X (ex-Twitter). “We protected the French from a migratory pull,” said the president of the RN group Marine Le Pen to journalists. This is “an extremely powerful disavowal”, said Marine Le Pen.
If the support of the left for the rejection motion was acquired, the LR and the RN kept the suspense high throughout the day. “Your government allowed the Senate’s firm text to be trampled on in committee,” the boss of the LR group Olivier Marleix told the minister. At the Socialist Party, first secretary Olivier Faure considered that Gérald Darmanin was “disavowed” and should “draw conclusions”.