'A shield': Macron defends controversial immigration law / Photo: Christophe Ena - POOL/AFP
'A shield': Macron defends controversial immigration law
French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday defended a new immigration law that has split his party and sparked the resignation of his health minister, calling it a necessary "shield".
France, he said, had "an immigration problem" and the law was needed to reduce illegal immigration but also facilitate the integration of documented arrivals.
"It is a shield that we needed," Macron said about the law that has caused a revolt among his party's deputies, and prompted health minister Aurelien Rousseau to quit the government.
Macron told the France 5 broadcaster that the government needed "to stand by" the law "and calm the tensions".
Following 18 months of wrangling over one of the flagship reforms of Macron's second term, both chambers of parliament backed the controversial legislation on Tuesday.
Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally (RN) endorsed the bill in a move some media dubbed a "kiss of death".
- 'Problems they feed on' -
But Macron denied that the law was close to the RN's ideology, saying that to stop the far right being elected to government "we need to handle the problems that they feed on."
Around a quarter of the 251 lawmakers in Macron's camp voted against the bill or abstained and several left-wing ministers have registered their opposition.
Commenting on Rousseau's resignation, Macron said he "respects" the decision.
But he added: "I also have a lot of respect for the deputies of the governing coalition who voted in favour of the law although they did not like all its aspects."
Macron said the law would regulate immigration without sacrificing French "values".
Rousseau is being replaced by junior minister Agnes Firmin Le Bodo on a temporary basis, government spokesman Olivier Veran said earlier Wednesday, adding there was "no ministerial revolt".
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne put on a brave face, saying the adoption of the law had not provoked a "crisis in the majority".
Macron said in the TV interview he believed some of the law's provisions were probably unconstitutional, which is why he would submit it to the Constitutional Council.
The text of the bill was hardened under pressure from the right, but Borne stressed that in the end the ruling party did not need the support of the RN to push it through.
Beating Le Pen to secure five more years in 2022, Macron has vowed to stave off her rise, but he has been accused of pandering to the far right to push through his reform agenda.
"The immigration law will leave deep scars," said French right-wing daily Le Figaro, adding that Macron "had lost on all fronts".
Liberation, a left-wing newspaper, called it a "moral defeat" for his party.
- 'Total victory' -
France has a long tradition of welcoming refugees and immigrants, but a rise in the number of asylum seekers, a chronic affordable-housing shortage, and a cost-of-living crisis have worsened social tensions in the country.
A key element of the law is that social security benefits for foreigners will now be conditioned on five years of presence in France, or 30 months for those who have jobs.
Migration quotas can also now be agreed and there are measures for dual-national convicts being stripped of French nationality.
"It's a total victory for the ideas defended by Marine Le Pen," said far-right lawmaker Jean-Philippe Tanguy.
The left-wing opposition slammed the measures.
The head of the Socialist deputies in the Assembly, Boris Vallaud, accused the government of "giving in to the most rancid ideas".
A hot-button issue in France, as elsewhere in Europe, immigration regularly inflames the political class.
On Wednesday, EU countries and lawmakers reached an agreement on an overhaul of the bloc's laws on handling asylum-seekers and migrants.
R.Collins--RTC
