Laura Laplaud with AFP
modified to
9:18 a.m., February 13, 2024
Two months after the adoption of the immigration law, the Republicans, a large part of the measures they advocated were rejected by the Constitutional Council, are embarking on the path of the shared initiative referendum (RIP). The aim is to restore some of the controversial measures through a referendum vote. An initiative that does not support Éric Woerth, quaestor of the National Assembly and Renaissance deputy for Oise, guest of La Grande interview Europe 1-CNews on Tuesday.
“I do not agree at all with the idea of a referendum on immigration. The question is very complicated to ask […] There are many measures that were taken in the immigration law that was passed, this debate took place. Let us check that the law is effective, that it allows us to reduce flows and that it also allows us to expel immigrants who have no business being on French territory when they are in an irregular situation and do not are not regularized”, he declared adding that France “must be absolutely firm on foreigners who behave in any way”.
RIP, a complex procedure
The shared initiative referendum (RIP) provides for the possibility of organizing a popular consultation on a proposed law. For this, 185 of the 925 parliamentarians must submit a so-called “referendum” bill. Then, the Council must verify its admissibility, by looking in particular if the consultation concerns the areas of “the organization of public authorities, reforms relating to economic, social or environmental policy and the public services which contribute to them”.
If the request is admissible, the collection of citizen signatures could begin, in order to try to reach 10% of voters, or 4.87 million signatures, within nine months, to pave the way for a referendum . If the signatures are obtained, the National Assembly and the Senate have six months to examine the new bill. If they fail to do so, the President of the Republic must submit it to a French referendum. The RIP has never been successful since its introduction into the Constitution in 2008, at the initiative of Nicolas Sarkozy.
“The firmness of the government cannot be attacked today”
With 133 senators and 62 deputies, almost all of whom voted for the text on immigration in December, LR should be able to overcome the first obstacle of the 185 parliamentarians needed. The Republicans are also convinced that the five proposals retained fall well within the referendum domain, considering that they “fall within the notion of reform relating to the social policy of the nation within the meaning of the first paragraph of article 11 of the Constitution”.
According to Éric Woerth, “French law will not protect a certain number of illegal immigrants who had protection tools that had been developed over the years.” At the microphone of Europe 1, the MP for Oise recalled that it is not easy to expel a person when the country of origin refuses to receive them.
“Even if the whole Le Pen family were at the head of the government, they would have a hard time doing it, even with 35 Le Pens in government! For good reason, you don’t put someone in a boat and you “send to a country that does not want to receive it, it cannot happen like that”, launched the quaestor of the National Assembly before concluding: “We must let things settle down. The firmness of the government “is not open to attack today.”