Former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe proposed, on Sunday, December 10, to set “quotas” for regularization for undocumented workers working in professions in shortage, while considering that the bill on immigration, debated from Monday in the National Assembly, does not constitute a migratory “call for air”.
“I will never support any text that would constitute a call for air. We have to face reality. This article [of the bill] has none of that, it is intended to try to find a solution for a certain number of foreigners in an irregular situation, who actually carry out jobs that we need and who do not pose any problems. problem of public order, observes Edouard Philippe in an interview with the Journal du Dimanche. To reassure those who fear a downturn, we could set up quotas. We can set a limit on the number of regularizations. There are already guarantees in the text, we can add more. »
This clause on the regularization of undocumented workers in professions in shortage is one of the hardest points of the discussion on the immigration bill carried by the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin. The right and the far right are fiercely opposed to it, while the left of the Macronist majority wants the text to include a regularization system.
“Anti-White Racism”
In this interview, Edouard Philippe affirms that his party, Horizons, which occupies the right wing of the majority, unambiguously supports the bill. “I want to express my complete support for the text which was proposed by Gérald Darmanin,” he said. It fits exactly into what I believe and what I have defended since my time at Matignon. We must regain control of our immigration and fight against fait accompli immigration. »
In this interview, Mr. Philippe also defends the maintenance of state medical aid (AME) intended for undocumented foreigners (reinstated on Wednesday November 29 in the Assembly), “for reasons of decency and for reasons relating to the general interest.”
Asked about the drama in Crépol (Drôme), during which Thomas, a 16-year-old teenager, was killed on November 19 by a stab wound during a village festival, the former prime minister “does not want [to] pronounce on the ongoing legal proceedings.”
However, he believes that it is “very possible” that there is a “new form of anti-White racism” in France, “just as there is an old form of anti-Black, anti-Arab or anti-Jewish racism”. “Neither form of racism excuses the other. They are all absolutely reprehensible and we must fight against them all equally firmly. »
