President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday, December 20, called a tough new immigration law a "shield" that would allow France to better combat illegal immigration and facilitate the integration of documented arrivals.
"It is a shield that we needed," Macron said about the law that has caused a deep split in his party and sparked the resignation of his health minister, Aurélien Rousseau.
"When you govern you have responsibilities," Macron told the France 5 broadcaster. Macron said the government needed "to stand by" the law, "and calm the tensions."
Following 18 months of wrangling over one of the flagship reforms of Macron's second term, both chambers of Parliament backed the controversial legislation on Tuesday. Marine Le Pen's far-right Rassemblement National (RN) endorsed the bill and called it an "ideological victory."
Macron denied that the law was close to the RN's ideology. To stop the far right being elected to government "we need to handle the problems that they feed on," Macron said.
Macron said he "respects" Rousseau's resignation earlier Wednesday. "I also have a lot of respect for the deputies of the governing coalition who voted in favor of the law although they did not like all its aspects," he said.