SHARE
COPY LINK

POLITICS

Far-right to back French government’s immigration bill

The far-right National Rally (RN) will back a flagship bill of President Emmanuel Macron's government tightening immigration rules, its figurehead Marine Le Pen announced on Tuesday, dramatically increasing its chances of being passed by parliament.

Far-right to back French government's immigration bill
French Member of Parliament and President of the Rassemblement National (RN) group Marine Le Pen at the National Assembly in Paris in December (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)

“We can rejoice in ideological progress, an ideological victory even for the National Rally, since this is now enshrined into law as a national priority,” said the three-time presidential candidate.

The RN had previously said it would vote against the bill or abstain.

Le Pen, who now leads the RN’s lawmakers in parliament but is widely expected to stand again for president in 2027, described the legislation as a “toughening of immigration conditions”.

Her announcement came after a commission of upper house senators and lower house National Assembly MPs agreed a new draft of the bill, which had been voted down without being debated in the National Assembly last week in a major blow to Macron.

“An agreement has been reached by parliament on the immigration text,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

The legislation is now expected to be approved in successive votes Tuesday evening in the Senate and then the National Assembly.

As well as the RN and Macron’s centrist MPs led by his Renaissance party, the bill will also be supported by the right-wing Republicans.

The left has reacted with horror to the prospect of the legislation being passed, with the head of Socialist lawmakers in the National Assembly Boris Vallaud describing it as a “great moment of dishonour for the government”.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

POLITICS

New Caledonia airport to reopen Monday, curfew reduced: authorities

New Caledonia's main international airport will reopen from Monday after being shut last month during a spate of deadly unrest, the high commission in the French Pacific territory said, adding a curfew would also be reduced.

New Caledonia airport to reopen Monday, curfew reduced: authorities

The commission said Sunday that it had “decided to reopen the airport during the day” and to “push back to 8:00 pm (from 6:00 pm) the start of the curfew as of Monday”.

The measures had been introduced after violence broke out on May 13 over a controversial voting reform that would have allowed long-term residents to participate in local polls.

The archipelago’s Indigenous Kanaks feared the move would dilute their vote, putting hopes for eventually winning independence definitively out of reach.

READ ALSO: Explained: What’s behind the violence on French island of New Caledonia?

Barricades, skirmishes with the police and looting left nine dead and hundreds injured, and inflicted hundreds of millions of euros in damage.

The full resumption of flights at Tontouta airport was made possible by the reopening of an expressway linking it to the capital Noumea that had been blocked by demonstrators, the commission said.

Previously the airport was only handling a small number of flights with special exemptions.

Meanwhile, the curfew, which runs until 6:00 am, was reduced “in light of the improvement in the situation and in order to facilitate the gradual return to normal life”, the commission added.

French President Emmanuel Macron had announced on Wednesday that the voting reform that touched off the unrest would be “suspended” in light of snap parliamentary polls.

Instead he aimed to “give full voice to local dialogue and the restoration of order”, he told reporters.

Although approved by both France’s National Assembly and Senate, the reform had been waiting on a constitutional congress of both houses to become part of the basic law.

Caledonian pro-independence movements had already considered reform dead given Macron’s call for snap elections.

“This should be a time for rebuilding peace and social ties,” the Kanak Liberation Party (Palika) said Wednesday before the announcement.

SHOW COMMENTS