Seventeen deputies from the Republicans (LR) say they are ready to vote on the “immigration” bill “if the spirit of the Senate project prevails” at the end of its examination in the Assembly, a more open position than the leadership of the group on this text which represents a challenge for the government.
“We intend to preserve the main achievements of the Senate and improve this law as much as possible,” assure these deputies, including Julien Dive, Virginie Duby-Muller and Philippe Juvin, in their column published in La Tribune on Sunday. They put “the ball (…) back in the government’s court” and “the presidential majority, its left wing in particular”.
The president of the LR group in the Assembly, Olivier Marleix, warned Tuesday that the presidential camp should not “expect to have a majority” on this text, “in any case, not with us”, if it does not was not accompanied by a reform of the Constitution.
For several months, the right has made a reform of Article 11 of the Constitution, which would allow the organization of referendums to be extended to migration issues, the heart of its demands concerning immigration. But a referendum on immigration was ruled out by President Emmanuel Macron following the second meetings in Saint-Denis on November 17.
Right-wing voices needed
For the seventeen signatories who distance themselves from their leader’s position, “the unraveling of the Senate text is obviously the main threat to the future of this law.” “Amend yes. Annihilate no”, they explain, recalling that “most of the senators of the presidential majority voted for the text in the Senate”.
According to them, the new wording of article 3 (now 4bis), which provided for the regularization of illegal immigrants working in sectors in tension, preserves “the discretionary power of prefects” and is “a firm response which does not create an enforceable right basically “. Their opinion is not shared by Olivier Marleix, for whom article 4 bis “is not a good solution”.
However, will the government, which only has a relative majority, manage to avoid 49.3 on this text? According to the calculations of a majority executive, if the twenty-one members of the independent group Libertés, Independents, Overseas and Territories (LIOT) cast their votes, “eighteen votes are missing”.
The “immigration” bill, very toughened by the right-wing senatorial majority, arrives for debate in committee in the National Assembly on Monday, challenging the government to seek a majority thanks to votes from the right, without tearing apart the presidential camp.