The Republicans’ intentions are clear. Without constitutional reform, Gérald Darmanin “should not expect to have a majority” on the immigration bill, “at least not with us”, warned Tuesday the president of the right-wing group in the Assembly, Olivier Marleix .
“We say it, we repeat it very clearly, if there is no reform of the Constitution, Gérald Darmanin should not expect to have a majority on this text, at least not with us. Because all of this is in vain, all of this will be of no use, all of this will amount to pretending,” declared the MP, as the bill begins its journey through the Assembly on Tuesday, with the hearing of the Minister of ‘Interior in committee.
Due to lack of consensus, Macron gave up on the reform of article 11
For several months, the right has made a reform of article 11 of the Constitution, which would allow the organization of referendums to be extended to migration issues, the heart of its demands concerning immigration. “For us, the alpha and omega of the effectiveness of migration policy and therefore of the fight against illegal immigration, is the modification of the Constitution”, declared at his side the deputy LR Patrick Hetzel, recalling that his party has tabled a constitutional bill on the subject, which will be examined on December 7 in the Assembly.
Problem: the President of the Republic and party leaders meeting on Friday in Saint-Denis concluded the impossibility of reforming article 11lack of consensus, and it seems unlikely that the majority will support this LR proposal on December 7.
Olivier Marleix also expressed his reluctance with regard to the version of the bill adopted on November 14 by the senators, in particular with regard to the article relating to the regularization of undocumented workers in professions in shortage. “We are opposed to any regularization measure (…) They accepted a concession on article 3 (now 4 bis, Editor’s note) which we consider is not a good solution,” he said .