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POLITICS

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.

READ MORE: OPINION: The French people are greater losers than Macron in immigration bill battle

“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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POLITICS

Macron warns of ‘civil war’ if far right or hard left win election

President Emmanuel Macron warned that the policies of his far-right and hard-left opponents could lead to ‘civil war’, as France prepared for its most divisive election in decades.

Published: 25 June 2024 08:37 CEST
Macron warns of ‘civil war’ if far right or hard left win election

French politics were plunged into turmoil when Macron called snap legislative elections after his centrist party was trounced by the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) in a European vote earlier this month.

Weekend polls suggested the RN would win 35-36 percent in the first round on Sunday, ahead of a left-wing alliance on 27-29.5 percent and Macron’s centrists in third on 19.5-22 percent.

A second round of voting will follow on July 7th in constituencies where no candidate takes more than 50 percent in the first round.

Speaking on the podcast Generation Do It Yourself, Macron, 46, denounced both the RN as well as the hard-left France Unbowed party.

He said the far-right “divides and pushes towards civil war”, while the hard-left La France Insoumise, which is part of the Nouveau Front Populaire alliance, proposes “a form of communitarianism”, adding that “civil war follows on from that, too”.

Reacting to Macron’s comments, far-right leader Jordan Bardella told French news outlet M6: “A President of the Republic should not say that. I want to re-establish security for all French people.”

Bardella, the RN’s 28-year-old president, earlier Monday said his party was ready to govern as he pledged to curb immigration and tackle cost-of-living issues.

“In three words: we are ready,” Bardella told a news conference as he unveiled the RN’s programme.

READ ALSO What would a far-right prime minister mean for foreigners in France?

Bardella has urged voters to give the eurosceptic party an outright majority to allow it to implement its anti-immigration, law-and-order programme.

“Seven long years of Macronism has weakened the country,” he said, vowing to boost purchasing power, “restore order” and change the law to make it easier to deport foreigners convicted of crimes.

He reiterated plans to tighten borders and make it harder for children born in France to foreign parents to gain citizenship.

Bardella added that the RN would focus on “realistic” measures to curb inflation, primarily by cutting energy taxes.

He also promised a disciplinary ‘big bang’ in schools, including a ban on mobile phones and trialling the introduction of school uniforms, a proposal previously put forward by Macron.

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal of Macron’s Renaissance party poured scorn on the RN’s economic programme, telling Europe 1 radio the country was “headed straight for disaster” in the event of an RN victory.

On Tuesday, Attal will go head-to-head with Bardella and the leftist Manuel Bompard in a TV debate.

On foreign policy, Bardella said the RN opposed sending French troops and long-range missiles to Ukraine – as mooted by Macron – but would continue to provide logistical and material support.

He added that his party, which had close ties to Russia before its invasion of Ukraine, would be “extremely vigilant” in the face of Moscow’s attempts to interfere in French affairs.

Macron insisted that France would continue to support Ukraine over the long term as he met with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg.

“We will continue to mobilise to respond to Ukraine’s immediate needs,” he said alongside Stoltenberg at the Elysee Palace.

The election is shaping up as a showdown between the RN and the leftist Nouveau Front Populaire, which is dominated by the hard-left La France Insoumise.

Bardella claimed the RN, which mainstream parties have in the past united to block, was now the “patriotic and republican” choice faced with what he alleged was the anti-Semitism of Mélenchon’s party.

La France Insoumise, which opposes Israel’s war in Gaza and refused to label the October 7th Hamas attacks as ‘terrorism’, denies the charges of anti-Semitism.

In calling an election in just three weeks Macron hoped to trip up his opponents and catch them unprepared.

But analysts have warned the move could backfire if the deeply unpopular president is forced to share power with a prime minister from an opposing party.

RN powerhouse Marine Le Pen, who is bidding to succeed Macron as president, has called on him to step aside if he loses control of parliament.

Macron has insisted he will not resign before the end of his second term in 2027 but has vowed to heed voters’ concerns.

Speaking on Monday, Macron once again defended his choice to call snap elections.

“It’s very hard. I’m aware of it, and a lot of people are angry with me,” he said on the podcast. “But I did it because there is nothing greater and fairer in a democracy than trust in the people.”

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