Eric Ciotti wants to “put a stop to mass immigration”. Possibility of a referendum on migration policy, reinstatement of the crime of illegal residence, and inclusion of assimilation in the Constitution: The Republicans unveil this Sunday two offensive bills.
“The French tell us in all the polls: there are too many immigrants. We have to take back control”, declares in the JDD the boss of senators LR Bruno Retailleau. In this cross interview in which the leader of the LR deputies Olivier Marleix also participates, the N.1 of the party Eric Ciotti boasts “a project of rupture, both daring and serious”.
Objective: to forget the divisions on pensions
The objective of the leaders of LR is above all to show that they have always “been united on these subjects”. Because after having shown internal divisions on the pension reform, the LRs want to regain control of one of their markers, immigration, by filing “this week” two bills intended to set the pace, while the executive goes from one reversal to another on its intentions in the matter.
The first proposal is of a constitutional nature: it aims to “allow the holding of a referendum on migration policy”. Today, “the referendum can only relate to the organization of public authorities and economic, social and environmental reforms”, recalls Bruno Retailleau. With this proposal, “the French will be able to vote on any bill or draft organic law whatever the subject, including immigration”, he continues.
In this same text, LR intends to include in the Constitution “the possibility of derogating from the primacy of treaties and European law (…) when “the fundamental interests of the nation” are at stake”, considering that immigration enters into this box, according to Bruno Retailleau. And LR also intends to “elevate the principle of assimilation to constitutional rank”.