PARIS (Reuters) – Elisabeth Borne assured Tuesday that her government would continue to work for a “compromise” on its immigration bill, rejected the day before by the National Assembly, in order to find effective solutions “demanded by the French” .
The executive will convene “as quickly as possible” a joint committee (CMP) to try to break the deadlock, announced government spokesperson Olivier Véran after the council of ministers.
“We are staying the course, we will never give up on finding compromises,” declared Elisabeth Borne during the question session to the government in the National Assembly. “The debate will continue. We will not give up on taking strong measures for our fellow citizens.”
The Prime Minister also reiterated “all her confidence” in Gérald Darmanin, weakened by the vote of the deputies on Monday. Following the vote, the Minister of the Interior presented his resignation to Emmanuel Macron, who refused it.
By choosing the middle path of the CMP, the government rules out the two other options available to it after the adoption of the rejection motion thanks to the votes of La France insoumise (LFI), ecologists, socialists, and the Rassemblement national (RN) and part of the elected Republicans (LR): withdraw the text, or send it back to the Senate.
PATHS
The CMP, made up of seven deputies (3 Renaissance, 1 Modem, 1 LR, 1 LFI and 1 RN) and seven senators (3 LR, one centrist, 1 Renaissance, and two socialists), will work on the text resulting from the debates at the upper room, hardened compared to the initial copy presented by Gérald Darmanin. If she reaches an agreement, the text will return to both chambers for a vote.
“We need solutions, a text quickly. Our determination does not weaken,” insisted Elisabeth Borne, denouncing an “irresponsible” alliance between Nupes and the RN.
Supposed, in the words of Gérald Darmanin, to be “kind to the good guys and mean to the bad guys”, the immigration bill is decried both by the left, which denounces the tightening of reception conditions for foreigners, and by the right, in particular because of the possibility of regularizing undocumented immigrants employed in economic sectors in tension.
Heckled in the National Assembly, Gérald Darmanin joked about the “beautiful facade of unity” between “those who want to welcome everyone and those who want to welcome no one” and accused the oppositions of having “wasted time” to police officers or magistrates by depriving them of new tools provided for by his bill.
“We will continue to work despite the pitfalls,” said the Minister of the Interior.
(Written by Zhifan Liu and Jean-Stéphane Brosse, with contributions from Elizabeth Pineau, edited by Kate Entringer)
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