The right went to war on Friday against the Constitutional Council, accused of a “coup d’état” for having censored a large part of the immigration law. A “very worrying” questioning of the institutions, reacted the president of the institution Laurent Fabius, highlighting a purely “legal” decision. Possible Republican (LR) candidate for the 2027 presidential election, Laurent Wauquiez sounded the charge a few hours after the Sages’ decision, denouncing “a coup d’état of law”.
“The Constitution is what holds us together”
“Not only is it false, but in a certain way, it is a questioning of institutions. And so I find that very worrying,” criticized Laurent Fabius on France 5 on Friday evening. Laurent Wauquiez, president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, even proposed that Parliament could have “the last word”, after the Constitutional Council. “This is what a government wanted to do in Israel,” underlined Laurent Fabius in reference to an attempt at reform by Benjamin Netanyahu, invalidated by the Supreme Court. “The Constitution, etymologically, is what holds us together,” he insisted.
Tightening of access to social benefits for foreigners, annual migration quotas, tightening of family reunification criteria, “return deposit” for foreign students…: most of the measures canceled Thursday by the Constitutional Council had been adopted under the pressure from the right, majority in the Senate and with the support of the extreme right. In the wake of Laurent Wauquiez, the president of the Republicans Éric Ciotti vilified “a democratic hold-up” and accused Laurent Fabius of “collusion” with Emmanuel Macron against the “will of the French people who want less immigration”.
The attacks from the right – and from the far right, Jordan Bardella (RN) speaking of a “coup d’état of judges” – were denounced by the rest of the political spectrum. “It is then difficult to claim to be a culture of government,” noted the former Minister of Industry Roland Lescure on X. “The Republicans are no longer republicans or even Gaullists,” denounced the socialist Olivier Faure. The only dissenting voice at LR, Xavier Bertrand, Laurent Wauquiez’s potential competitor for 2027, also said he was “in deep disagreement”. “When politicians heat everyone up, you risk having an end of mandate that could resemble that of Trump,” he warned.
The executive “will not present a bill” on the subject
Triumphant after the adoption of the law in December, the right and the far right are all the more furious that the Council censored only three articles on the merits and 32 others on the grounds that they had no place in the scope of this text. “How dare we pretend that there is no link between immigration and family reunification?”, indignant the boss of senators LR Bruno Retailleau.
This case law, regarding amendments rejected because they were deemed to have no direct or indirect link with the initial text, “goes back several decades,” defended Laurent Fabius. LR and RN hoped that the Council would cancel certain substantive measures in order to justify the need for a constitutional revision to modify migration policy. Nothing now prevents Parliament from voting again in due form on these controversial measures and “at that time, we will say what we think on the merits”, remarked Laurent Fabius.
The President of the Senate Gérard Larcher also urged the government to “resubmit a text consistent with the agreement” between LR and the majority. But Gérald Darmanin took the lead, assuring that the executive “will not present a bill” on the subject. For his part, LFI coordinator Manuel Bompard requested the withdrawal of the law, judging that “the text validated by the Constitutional Council corresponds to the text rejected by the Assembly” and therefore has “no legitimacy”.
The Head of State is expected to promulgate the law on Saturday and the Minister of the Interior has summoned the prefects this Friday to give them his first instructions in terms of controls, expulsions and regularizations. The final text retains the structure initially desired by the government, with a large component of simplification of procedures for expelling delinquent foreigners.