The French far-right National Rally under Marine Le Pen on Tuesday said it would back a flagship bill of President Emmanuel Macron’s government tightening immigration rules, but the ruling party immediately faced a potential rebellion from left-leaning members dismayed by the legislation.
The government regards the legislation — which generally tightens immigration rules — as crucial to seizing the initiative on the issue of immigration from the far right.
But various amendments have seen the measures further tightened from when the bill was originally submitted, with the left accusing the government of caving in to pressure from the far right and submitting to its agenda.
“We can rejoice in ideological progress, an ideological victory even for the National Rally (RN), since this is now enshrined into law as a national priority,” said the three-time presidential candidate Le Pen.
The RN had previously said it would vote against the bill or abstain.
Le Pen, who now leads the RN’s lawmakers in parliament but is widely expected to stand again for president in 2027, described the legislation as a “toughening of immigration conditions”.
Her announcement came after a commission of upper house senators and lower house National Assembly MPs agreed a new draft of the bill, which had been voted down without being debated in the National Assembly last week in a major blow to Macron.
– ‘Moment of dishonour’ –
The legislation is now expected to be put to successive votes Tuesday evening in the Senate and then the National Assembly.
As well as the RN and Macron’s centrist coalition of MPs led by his Renaissance party, the bill will also be supported by the right-wing Republicans.
But while on paper the government has the numbers for the legislation to be passed, there are concerns within Macron’s camp that there could be a rebellion from within its own ranks.
Prominent left-leaning Renaissance MP Sacha Houlie said he would vote against the legislation and called on others to follow him, with some sources saying some 30 pro-Macron MPs could do so.
In a sign of the seriousness of the situation, Macron called a meeting of his ruling party at the Elysee ahead of the vote, party sources told AFP.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, the ambitious 41-year-old who has spearheaded the legislation, had warned on Sunday that Le Pen risked winning the 2027 presidential election if the bill is not passed.
The left has reacted with horror to the prospect of the legislation being passed, with the head of Socialist lawmakers in the National Assembly Boris Vallaud describing it as a “great moment of dishonour for the government”.
Passing the legislation is also critical for Macron who cannot stand again in 2027 after two consecutive terms and is extremely wary of being seen as a lame duck with more than three years left of his final mandate.
Members of the right-wing and left-wing opposition last week joined forces to vote down the draft without even debating the measures. The government does not have a majority in parliament following 2022 elections.
The government has over the last year frequently used constitutional powers to pass legislation without a vote as it did with contested pension reforms.
But this could also trigger a confidence motion that it could lose.
“The political crisis around the immigration bill is a moment of truth where all the fragilities of Emmanuel Macron’s mandate are coming together,” the Le Monde daily said in an editorial.
– ‘Regressive bill’ –
Dozens of NGOS slammed what they described as potentially the “most regressive” immigration law in decades.
It is “the most regressive bill of the past 40 years for the rights and living conditions of foreigners, including those who have long been in France,” around 50 groups including the French Human Rights League said in a joint statement.
A key element is now that social security benefits for foreigners be conditional on five years of presence in France or 30 months for those who work.
Migration quotas can also now be agreed and there are also measures for dual-national convicts being stripped of French nationality.
“With this text directly inspired by RN pamphlets against immigration, we are facing a shift in the history of the republic and its fundamental values,” said French Communist Party leader Fabien Roussel.
France’s immigrant population is estimated at 5.1 million, or 7.6 percent of the population. Authorities believe there are between 600,000 to 700,000 undocumented immigrants in the country.
