France's new immigration bill, which was once about to be stillborn, was finally passed in the French parliament recently.
On the evening of December 19, local time, the French National Assembly (lower house of parliament) passed the draft of the new immigration law with 349 votes in favor and 186 votes against. The French Senate also adopted the draft with 214 votes in favor and 114 against.
According to **, the new bill tightens immigration policy and sets stricter conditions for immigrants to receive social benefits. For example, housing allowances, family allowances, etc., will only be available to foreigners who have lived in France for more than 5 years or who have worked in the country for more than 30 months;Dual nationals sentenced for serious crimes committed against the police may lose their French nationality;Immigration quotas have been increased;This makes it more difficult for children of immigrants to obtain French citizenship.
France's Macron said the text of the immigration law was "very clear" and aimed at stopping illegal immigration. He also said that France has always welcomed and will continue to welcome foreigners. French Interior Minister Darmanin, who once took the initiative to resign because of the frustration of the bill in parliament, also said that the parliament passed a strong bill that would protect the country and expel foreign criminals in France.
The new immigration bill is one of the reforms that Macron has focused on in his second term, and it was on the agenda last year. In February this year, France** introduced a draft immigration law, seeking to establish a stricter immigration system. However, due to the seriousness of the immigration problem in France and society, the bill has been extremely slow to advance.
From June to July this year, due to the shooting and killing of a 17-year-old boy of North African descent by French police, the issue of immigration has once again become the focus of attention in French society, and the voice of tightening immigration policy has gradually increased. Macron said in August that France must drastically reduce immigration, starting with illegal immigration.
In November this year, the French Senate passed a draft of a new immigration law, and at the same time passed a series of amendments, including replacing national medical assistance with emergency medical assistance, ending the right of children born by foreigners in France to automatically acquire French nationality, introducing an immigration quota system, and simplifying the deportation procedure for illegal immigrants.
However, just as the draft was submitted to the National Assembly for consideration, the opposition in the National Assembly moved a motion to adjourn consideration of the draft resolution, which was adopted. Subsequently, Darmanin offered to resign, but Macron refused. On 18 December, a 14-member joint committee of the National Assembly and the Senate, both houses of the French parliament, sought a compromise on the immigration bill, and finally reached a consensus to bring the bill back into the legislative process.
Although the new immigration bill was passed, for Macron**, the incident also exposed some problems.
Some on the left side are opposed to the bill, including centrist members to which Macron belongs, who believe that Macron has conceded too much to the far-right coalition in the bill. Fuller, the leader of the Socialist Party, said that Macron was supporting the far right and that "history will remember those who betrayed their beliefs". Le Pen, chairman of the parliamentary group of the far-right National League, said that the immigration bill was "a victory for the ideology of the National League".
Because of his opposition to the new immigration bill, French Minister of Health and Disease Prevention Aurélien Russo announced his resignation on the 20th. Local** believes that the bill exacerbates divisions within the ruling coalition, which could weaken Macron**'s position in parliament in the future. According to a poll conducted on the 20th, about 70 percent of respondents are satisfied with the new immigration bill, but 70 percent of respondents believe that the bill has been influenced by far-right parties.
Some analysts have pointed out that the difficulty in promulgating the new immigration bill reflects the complexity of the immigration problem in France.
According to Macron, France is a migrant. According to the French National Statistics Office, the total population of France in 2021 was 67.6 million, of which the proportion of immigrants was 103%, or 6.9 million people. Another statistic shows that immigrants account for 10 percent of total employment in France2%。However, immigrants mostly work in the service sector, such as 388% of domestic workers are immigrants, 284% of security guards are immigrants.
Historically, France has brought in immigrants to make up for the labor gap. However, in recent years, the influx of immigrants has also brought social security and other problems to France, and France's resettlement system and subsidy system for medical care and housing have also been under great pressure. In this context, there is a growing number of people resisting immigration.
In general, the French left wants to bring in immigrants, especially those who can serve as laborers. Roland Lescourt, France's ministerial representative for industrial affairs, recently said that the French industrial sector "needs 100,000 to 200,000 foreigners in the next 10 years." The right advocates restrictions on immigration, and the far right calls for the deportation of illegal immigrants.
In fact, not only France, but also the whole of Europe has tended to take a tough stance on the issue of immigration, and far-right parties in some countries have achieved good results in the field with the help of the immigration issue. Parliamentary elections will be held in Europe in June next year, and the issue of immigration is likely to be an important factor influencing the elections.