Prime Minister Michel Barnier beckoned Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau to come closer. From the Saint-Ludovic border post in the French town of Menton, on the border with Italy, Barnier defined the main outlines of his migration policy on Friday, October 18. And he was keen to show that he and his interior minister were on the same page. Never mind that Retailleau shocks part of the French public with his strident declarations questioning the rule of law or asserting that immigration is "not an opportunity" for the country. In the end, it's "the prime minister who decides," as Barnier's office explains. But while the prime minister's comments may have had a certain polish to them, he hardly displayed any fundamental disagreement with his minister, who stood smiling beside him.

"The French expect an effective policy to control immigration," explained Barnier, who confirmed that a new immigration law will see the light of day in 2025. The bill is giving President Emmanuel Macron's camp, allies of the coalition government, a cold sweat. The previous law, passed in December 2023 with the votes of the far-right Rassemblement National (RN), included a slew of unconstitutional provisions and nearly caused the presidential camp to implode. The prime minister warned that it would nevertheless have to be "completed."

So far, the government has only hinted at its desire to legislate an extension of the maximum detention period to 210 days (compared with the current 90). Will it also incorporate the measures introduced by the right in the 2023 law, before they were rejected by the Constitutional Council as legislative riders (in other words, unrelated to the subject of the original text)?

Retailleau has repeatedly called for the reintroduction of penalties for undocumented residence, the introduction of a three-year residency requirement for access to social benefits and the tightening of criteria for student and family migration. "There may be other measures," said Barnier, who refuses to risk confirming Retailleau's intentions, without rejecting them outright. The "key subject" of this law will be to "prepare for the entry into force of the European asylum and immigration pact," scheduled for 2026, which he hopes to accelerate, he said, calling on everyone to remain "calm."

Barnier and Retailleau are "in sync," the interior minister's office stressed. They are "in tune," confirmed the prime minister's. The two members of the right-wing Les Républicains party also know that they benefit from a majority of European Union member states aligning their positions in favor of a tougher EU policy. At the end of the European Council meeting in Brussels on October 17 and 18, the 27 member states called "as a matter of urgency" for a "new legislative proposal" to "increase and speed up" deportations. At issue is the revision of the 2008 European Return Directive, which sets the normative framework for the removal of undocumented foreign nationals. "There's a new awareness," said Barnier from Menton. "All countries are confronted with this issue, and they're tackling it together in a new frame of mind that sets aside debates and ideology. I hope that this European state of mind will spread here at home."

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