Barely a week after its adoption in the National Assembly, France’s immigration reform bill has been referred by President Emanuel Macron for review by the Constitutional Council.
The proposed law includes annual caps on immigration, denying children born in France to immigrant parents the automatic right to French citizenship, and would also make it harder for immigrants to receive state benefits.
For some on the Right, the bill did not go far enough. Yet even as the French parliament was adopting it, Macron began expressing his doubts.
Now Macron, National Assembly President Yaël Braun-Pivet, and more than 60 deputies have seized the bill and sent it to the Constitutional Council for review.
Macron explained that he wanted to be sure “that the provisions of the law can only be implemented after the Constitutional Council has verified that they respect the rights and freedoms that the Constitution guarantees.” Noting “the evolution of the text compared to its initial version”, he emphasized “the importance for our nation of constitutional rights and principles.”
Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin also stated that the text contained “measures manifestly and clearly contrary to the Constitution,” as did Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne, telling France Inter that she had “doubts” about certain “provisions that do not comply with our Constitution,” echoing statements by Macron made during an interview on France 5.
Among the measures being called into question are the conditioning of social benefits to a minimum period of residence in France, the establishment of annual migration quotas, and requiring a ‘deposit’ for foreign students. The legal experts of the Constitutional Council have a month to respond. If they validate the text, the law moves forward to promulgation. The council can also strike out parts of the bill or reject the new law in its entirety.
Given the opposition to the bill in Macron’s own camp, sending it for evaluation by the Constitutional Council may very well be a way for the French president to reassure his ministers and potentially pave the way for removing sections they find especially hard to digest.
