The legislative marathon is over. The President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron promulgated on Friday the immigration law widely censored by the Constitutional Council accused of a “coup d’état” by the right.
The text of some 86 articles was published in the Official Journal on Saturday, the first instructions for application having already been presented to the prefects. Emmanuel Macron promulgated the law from New Delhi, where he was traveling on Friday.
Tighter access to social benefits, annual migration quotas, tightening of family reunification criteria…: the Constitutional Council has rejected numerous measures adopted under pressure from the right, with the support of the far right.
“Legal” decision
The Republicans denounced a “democratic hold-up” and “a legal coup d’état” by the Sages. A “very worrying” questioning of the institutions, reacted the president of the institution Laurent Fabius on France 5 Friday evening, highlighting a purely “legal” decision.
Possible Republican (LR) candidate for the 2027 presidential election, Laurent Wauquiez sounded the charge a few hours after the Sages’ decision. The president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region even proposed that Parliament could have “the last word”, after the Constitutional Council.
“This is what a government wanted to do in Israel,” underlined Laurent Fabius in reference to an attempt at reform by Benjamin Netanyahu, invalidated by the Supreme Court. “The Constitution, etymologically, is what holds us together,” he insisted.
The only dissenting voice at LR, Xavier Bertrand, potential competitor of Laurent Wauquiez for 2027, also said he was “in deep disagreement”. “When political leaders heat everyone up, you risk having an end of mandate which could resemble that of Trump,” he warned.
Darmanin rejects a new bill
Nothing now prevents Parliament from voting again in due form on these controversial measures and “at that time, we will say what we think on the merits”, noted Laurent Fabius.
The President of the Senate Gérard Larcher also urged the government to “resubmit a text consistent with the agreement” between LR and the majority. But Gérald Darmanin took the lead, ensuring that the executive “will not present a bill” on the subject.
For his part, LFI coordinator Manuel Bompard requested the withdrawal of the law, judging that “the text validated by the Constitutional Council corresponds to the text rejected by the Assembly” and therefore has “no legitimacy”. The final text retains the structure initially desired by the government, with a large component of simplification of procedures for expelling delinquent foreigners.