French President Emmanuel Macron published the formal text of a new immigration law in the government's Official Journal on Saturday, January 26, with the first instructions on applying the legislation already presented to officials.

France's Constitutional Council recently censured certain contentious additions to the bill made under insistence from the right, including measures restricting access to social benefits and the introduction of immigration quotas.

Macron had called on Interior Minister Gérard Darmanin after that ruling to do "everything in his power" to "implement the immigration law as quickly as possible", a member of the president's team told Agence France-Presse. Darmanin, who had said some measures were "clearly contrary to the constitution", described the ruling as a win for the government.

But the council's decision sparked condemnation from the right, with Jordan Bardella, president of the far-right National Rally party, criticizing on X what he said was a "coup by the judges, with the backing of the president". He called for a referendum on immigration as the "only solution".