PARIS (dpa-AFX) – The French government has suffered a defeat in the National Assembly on the controversial issue of immigration. A majority of MPs voted on Monday for a motion that rejected the centrist government’s proposed law before the plenary debate. The narrow majority of 270 to 265 votes came about because, in addition to left-wing forces, conservatives and right-wing nationalists also supported the Greens’ proposal.
However, the controversial plan of the government under head of state Emmanuel Macron is not off the table. Although the government could withdraw the draft, it could also refer it to the Senate, the upper house of the French parliament. The government could also convene a commission of senators and representatives to discuss the project.
As a result of the vote, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin offered his resignation to President Macron. This is normal, said Darmanin on TF1. Macron rejected the offer and demanded that a proposal be made to him on Tuesday on how the proposed law should proceed.
Macron’s center camp has no longer had an absolute majority in the French National Assembly since the parliamentary elections in June 2022 and is therefore dependent on votes from the opposition for their projects. The fact that a majority has now emerged against the government camp is a blow for them. Interior Minister Darmanin had previously tried to get the bourgeois camp on his side, both with pithy words and with concessions such as a reform of medical care for irregular migrants.
The government says it wants to use the proposed law to control immigration and improve integration. To this end, she wants to give migrants who previously worked without residence documents in jobs with a staff shortage a temporary residence permit. At the same time, the government wants to be able to force some previously protected migrants to leave the country and expand deportations./rbo/DP/men