After hours and hours of negotiations, has an agreement been found between Matignon and the right? Since last Wednesday, discussions have been intense between Elisabeth Borne and the leaders of the Republicans to obtain a compromise on the immigration bill. It is now up to the Joint Commission (CMP, which brings together seven senators and seven deputies) to format the text which, in the event of agreement, will be submitted to the vote of the National Assembly and the Senate this Tuesday. But one point arouses controversy and is already raising eyebrows among part of the presidential majority: the conditioning of social benefits for foreigners.
What are we talking about ?
“It was not the general idea of the majority at the beginning…” agreed Gérald Darmanin this Sunday on BFMTV. But since the vote on the rejection motion last Monday, the government has been forced to negotiate step by step with the right. And the measure in question was precisely one of the Republicans’ demands.
During the passage of the text at the Luxembourg Palace, the senators of the right and the center conditioned the benefit of non-contributory social benefits (family allowances, disability compensation benefit, personalized housing assistance and enforceable right to housing) to 5 years of stable and regular residence in France for foreigners (compared to six months currently). “We want to harmonize with what exists for the RSA. Foreigners can only receive the RSA after five years of residence »defended Eric Ciotti on Cnews this Monday.
Why does this attract so much criticism?
This desire to mark a difference between French and foreigners for social benefits, and in particular family allowances, has caused a jump associations and left-wing elected officials. “No government, even the most right-wing, has until now dared to tackle the universality of family allowances,” Aurélien Taché, environmentalist deputy for Val-d’Oise, criticized on X (ex-Twitter). “It’s called national preference. And this is the program of the National Rally,” also denounced the president of the socialist group in the National Assembly, Boris Vallaud.
In her 2022 presidential project, however, Marine Le Pen went much further, by limiting certain social assistance exclusively to French families. The RN candidate wanted in particular to “reserve family allowances for families where at least one of the two parents is French”, by submitting this question by referendum.
” That is not the case here. We are talking about waiting periods, this is already the case when you are expatriates and you return to French soil,” says Mathieu Lefèvre, Renaissance deputy for Val-de-Marne. “We need to outline the contours of this measure to get closer to what is done in European countries,” adds the elected official close to Gérald Darmanin.
What impact on Tuesday’s vote?
Several avenues of negotiation with the right are underway: varying the length of residence required, differentiating “those who work and those who do not,” and excluding housing and disability rights from this measure. Enough to convince the entire presidential camp? Nothing is certain. It will be a compromise which “costs the majority”, admitted Gérald Darmanin on Sunday.
This delay in duties imposed on foreigners could push elected officials to abstain or even oppose the bill. When questioned, an uneasy MoDem elected official preferred to dodge: “I don’t really have the latest information on the subject…”. This Monday, at the Renaissance group meeting, the tension was high: “There are divergent voices. It will be very difficult on Tuesday, says a deputy present. We will once again enter the Hemicycle without knowing whether the text will pass or not.”