Macron urges ‘intelligent compromise’ over immigration bill

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday called for an "intelligent compromise" over a controversial immigration bill as his government battles a political crisis following the rejection of the flagship legislation in parliament.

Published: 15 December 2023 18:00 CET

Macron urges 'intelligent compromise' over immigration bill

French President Emmanuel Macron gives a press conference in Brussels in 2023. (Photo by Miguel MEDINA / AFP)

In a surprise move on Monday, members of the opposition joined forces in the French parliament’s lower house to vote down the legislation aimed at hardening French immigration law without even debating the measures.

The government, which does not have a majority in parliament, has been locked in intense talks with the right-wing opposition in a bid to rescue the legislation.

“I am in favour of results and pragmatism,” Macron said on a visit to Brussels.

He called for an “intelligent compromise” in the name of “the general interest.”

“Our country needs to improve its rules to better fight against illegal immigration, traffickers, against those who take advantage of the world’s misery and who weaken our system by putting too much pressure on it,” he added.

A mixed parliamentary commission comprising upper house senators and lower house lawmakers is expected to meet on Monday in a bid to thrash out a compromise text.

Macron indicated he did not want to trigger article 49.3 of the constitution, which allows the government to pass legislation without a vote, as it did with contentious pension reforms earlier this year.

“It would not be serious to subject a sensitive text to article 49.3 when the opposition has done everything to ensure there is no debate,” Macron said.

He criticised the Republicans and the Socialists for joining forces with hard-left France Unbowed and far-right Rassemblement National to vote down the draft law.

“It was a game of obstruction and refusal of dialogue that the French people cannot understand,” Macron said.

“I don’t understand it either. Because we can agree or disagree, but I find it strange not to have dialogue.”

The frantic talks over the text of the bill come amid a heated debate in French society around immigration and security.

The rejection of the legislation was deeply frustrating for Macron, who many see as a potential lame duck as he sits out the rest of his term without being able to stand for a third time in 2027.

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The far-right Rassemblement National (RN) is currently far ahead in opinion polls for the June 9th elections in France, with Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Renaissance party in a battle for second place with the Socialists.

The debate between Attal, 35, and Bardella, 28, who leads the RN’s list in the EU elections, will be the first head-to-head clash between the two leading figures in a new French political generation.

Polls have been making increasingly uncomfortable reading for Macron, who has had to fly to the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia to try to calm the violent unrest there.

Coming third would be a disaster for the president, who portrays himself as a champion of European democracy and bulwark against the far right.

The head of Macron’s party list for the elections, the little known Valérie Heyer, has failed to make an impact and was widely seen as losing a debate with Bardella earlier this month.

According to a Toluna-Harris Interactive study for French media, the presidential camp is stuck at just 15 percent of the vote and in a dogfight for second place with the Socialists – who are on 14.5 percent – led by former commentator Raphael Glucksmann.

The RN, by contrast, is soaring ahead on 31.5 percent.

The RN’s figurehead Marine Le Pen, who has waged three unsuccessful presidential campaigns, has sought to bring the RN into the political mainstream as she eyes another tilt at the presidency in 2027.

“There is a very clear signal that must be sent to Emmanuel Macron. He must suffer the worst possible defeat to bring him back to earth,” Le Pen told CNews and Europe 1 this week.

Bardella, who took over the party leadership from his mentor, is key to Le Pen’s strategy, a gifted communicator of immigrant origin with an expanding following on TikTok.

Attal, also one of the best debaters in Macron’s government, is expected to seek to portray Bardella as an extremist, complacent over the threat posed by Russia and who has little interest in Europe.

Apparently aware of the danger, Bardella on Tuesday said the RN will no longer sit in the EU parliament with the Alternative for Germany (AfD) faction, indicating it had lost patience with the controversies surrounding its German allies.

The head of the AfD’s list in the polls, Maximilian Krah, had said in a weekend interview that someone who had been a member of the SS in Nazi Germany was “not automatically a criminal”.

Bardella is “putting his credibility and the future of his movement on the line in the debate”, said the Le Monde daily, adding that a strong performance could see some RN supporters regard him as a stronger candidate in 2027 than Le Pen.

You can find a more detailed profile of Attal HERE and a look at Bardella HERE