Sacha Houlié, deputy of the Renaissance group and president of the Laws Committee, at the National Assembly in Paris on December 11, 2023 (AFP/Ludovic MARIN)
Straight in her boots, Elisabeth Borne denied on Wednesday any crisis within the Macronist majority despite the deep unease and divisions generated by the adoption in Parliament of a controversial law on immigration, with the voices of the National Rally which said ideologically winner of the sequence.
“There is no crisis in the majority”, assured the Prime Minister on France Inter the day after the adoption of the text, supported at the last minute by the extreme right and of which part of the majority is diverted.
After 18 months of twists and turns, Parliament definitively approved this law on Tuesday. This parliamentary victory for Emmanuel Macron, who will speak on Wednesday evening in the program C à Vous on France 5, at the same time opens a deep divide within his majority.
Faced with virulent criticism from the left, associations and part of its majority on this right-wing text, Elisabeth Borne, “deeply humanist”, assured that she had “ensured that this text respects our values”.
She said she had “the feeling of duty accomplished” after the adoption of “useful, effective measures, expected by our fellow citizens”.
She said she “disregarded” the votes of the RN since the text, voted in the National Assembly by 349 votes to 186, could have been adopted without the 88 votes of the RN which “went hello”.
– Unconstitutional measures –
Elisabeth Borne was evasive on the question of the resignation of Minister of Health Aurélien Rousseau, one of the supporters of the left wing of the majority. According to a ministerial source, he sent him a letter on Tuesday asking to be relieved of his duties. Emmanuel Macron “did not receive the resignation” of the minister, she said.
But Mr. Rousseau was absent from the Council of Ministers on Wednesday morning.
A few hours before the vote, several ministers unfavorable to the text had put their resignation in the balance before meeting with other supporters of the same movement. Among them, the Minister of Transport Clément Beaune, those of Housing Patrice Vergriete and those of Higher Education Sylvie Retailleau.
Several figures from the majority did not hide their discomfort on Wednesday morning, accentuated by Marine Le Pen’s support for this text which aims to facilitate the expulsions of illegal migrants and make the French social protection system less attractive for foreigners.
The president of the Laws Commission Sacha Houlié, who voted against the text, said on RTL that he was “a little hungover” because this immigration law is “not the project” of the majority and includes “around thirty “unconstitutional” measures.
Elisabeth Borne recognized that measures of the law were probably contrary to the Constitution and that the text “would have to evolve”. She also did not rule out “returning” to certain provisions such as personalized housing assistance, which have crystallized the latest debates.
– “Get back on its feet” –
She also assured that State Medical Aid (AME) for undocumented foreigners would “not be abolished”, after having committed to the right to carry out a reform from the beginning of 2024.
“It is absolutely necessary to put the majority, its ideas, and the government back on their feet,” judged MoDem boss François Bayrou on France 2, who seemed extremely uncomfortable.
The President of the National Assembly Yaël Braun-Pivet admitted that she “would not have written 100% of the text” that she voted for on Tuesday and that “the majority were experiencing a rather painful moment”. She is “very perplexed” about this law and the question of social benefits “embarrasses her enormously”.
The boss of the LR senators, Bruno Retailleau, who has been maneuvering for several weeks to tilt the text to the right, was cautious about the follow-up that the executive intends to give to this vote. He said he had “doubts” about the head of state’s determination to apply the law.
The relative majority only “really holds when there were small measures” but “when strong measures are needed, it all falls apart. (…) Macronism leads to impotence and immobility” , he said on Europe 1/Cnews.
On the left, the boss of the Socialist Party Olivier Faure asked that the text not be promulgated, while Cyrielle Chatelain, leader of the environmentalist deputies, judged on forged.” She “runs away from her responsibilities” and “refuses to look at the disastrous impacts on tens of thousands of lives.”
© 2023 AFP
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