France's Assemblée Nationale on Monday, December 11 adopted a motion to reject a highly controversial immigration bill, dealing a major blow to the government of President Emmanuel Macron.
Originally proposed by Macron's centrist government with a mix of steps to expel more undocumented people and improve integration, the text now leans firmly toward enforcement after its passage through the Sénat, which is controlled by the right.
Speaking at the Assemblée Nationale on Monday, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin defended the bill, which further restricts the ability of migrants to bring family members into France, birthright citizenship and welfare benefits. On Monday evening, in the wake of the bill's rejection, Darmanin offered to resign – but this was rejected by President Macron.
Darmanin urged lawmakers not to join forces to vote on the rejection motion put forward by the Greens. "Refusing to debate" the draft law means "refusing to debate issues of interest to the French," he said. Despite his pleas, the Assemblée backed the motion to reject the immigration bill by 270 votes to 265. The move means the interruption of the examination of the legislation's roughly 2,600 proposed amendments. The text of the bill could now be sent back to the Sénat, or the government could decide to withdraw the text.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen said she was "delighted" with the result, saying it had "protected the French from a migratory tidal wave".
While left-wing politicians called for Darmanin to resign. "It feels like the end of the road for his law and therefore for him," French far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon posted on X.
On Sunday, Macron said that forgetting about the right of asylum would be a mistake, as he spoke during a ceremony marking the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. "France retains its long tradition of providing asylum for all those whose rights are threatened in their own country, and we will continue to defend this right of asylum," he said. "To think that we can solve our contemporary problems by forgetting these rights, which are the very foundation of our republic in France, but also of the very identity of our Europe, would be not just a political mistake, but a moral one," he added.
The bill aims to speed up asylum application procedures and regularise the status of undocumented workers in sectors with labor shortages, but also to facilitate the expulsion of foreigners deemed dangerous. It would introduce an annual quota for the number of migrant arrivals to be set by parliament, and remove all but emergency medical coverage for undocumented people.
Earlier in the day around 200 people, including undocumented workers, demonstrated outside the Assemblée Nationale in Paris. "We have gathered to denounce this bill of shame, which calls into question the fundamental principles of our republic," Sophie Binet, head of the hard-left CGT union, said at the rally. "France could not function without undocumented workers in kitchens, cleaning and construction."