The Senate begins the debate on the thorny immigration law of the Macron Government

The thorny new law immigration promoted by the Government of Emmanuel Macron It will begin to be debated this Monday in the Senate, where the right has the majority, with much uncertainty about whether Macronism will achieve the necessary support to approve the project.

The Government has presented this project as a reform that toughens measures against undocumented foreigners, particularly those who commit crimes, facilitating their expulsion, but that at the same time favors the regularization and integration of immigrants who work in sectors with a shortage of labor. work, such as construction or hospitality.

By this nature, in a context in which the ruling party lacks an absolute parliamentary majority and must seek the support of other groups to carry out its initiatives, the extreme right and the classic right do not align with the project because they want to toughen it, while the Left considers it too restrictive.

The classic right embodied by Los Republicanos, which has been the most receptive partner to Macronism in recent times, considers article 3, the one relating to the “jobs in tension” (with a shortage of labor), considering that it would generate a call effect.

In an attempt to bring positions closer to the doors of the debate in the Senate, the French Minister of Labor, Olivier Dussopt, this Sunday showed himself open to possible changes, although without giving up on him.

“I have said from the beginning that I am very open about the form. I think that the stay permit with article 3 is a good method, but if another solution emerges from the parliamentary debate, why close it?”he stated in statements to the public channel France 3.

On the other hand, the articles that are going to be examined by the Senate have already been modified in committee by the right-wing majority to incorporate the suppression of State Medical Aid (AME), something that also sparks debate among the ranks of Macronism. .

The AME covers medical and hospital expenses for undocumented people who have been in France for at least three months and would be replaced by a device yet to be defined that would only cover emergency care.

The parliamentary debate on the immigration project, the content of which was revealed by the Government in February, has suffered numerous delays throughout the year.

First it was postponed within the framework of the conflictive reform of the pension system that marked the first half of 2023 and, later, with the serious unrest that occurred in France between June and July after the death of a minor of Algerian descent at the hands of the police, shot, during a roadblock on the outskirts of Paris.

The Senate must examine the text between November 6 and 14, after which the project would be sent to the National Assembly, where its first stop would be the law commission -at the end of this month-, before the final debate in the Upper house in December.

The difficulty in gathering the necessary parliamentary support has led the Government to force the approval of several laws – including the crucial reform of the pension system – through a constitutional mechanism that allows it to avoid the vote of legislators.

It is article 49.3 of the French Magna Carta, the use of which in turn opens the door to subjecting the Government to a motion of censure. To save them, the support of the Republicans deputies in the National Assembly has been decisive in the last year.