2023-11-09 10:23:09
The president of the Les Républicains group in the Senate, Bruno Retailleau, during the examination of the immigration bill, November 6, 2023. JULIEN MUGUET FOR “LE MONDE”
Gérard Larcher is a relieved Senate President. His majority at the Luxembourg Palace did not “broke all the dishes” because of article 3 of the “immigration” bill, which facilitated the regularization of undocumented workers in professions in shortage, and which was tightened on Wednesday November 8 by the senators. A sign that the crisis was brewing, the elected official from Yvelines had warned his colleagues from the Les Républicains (LR) group: above all, do not “not create the irreparable” with their centrist partners, while a disagreement persisted between them on this article which opened to foreigners with at least three years of life in France and eight months of work the issuance “by right” a one-year residence permit.
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The vote on the text in the Senate seemed doomed to failure before the announcement of a surprise agreement, Tuesday evening, between the LR group of Bruno Retailleau and the centrists of Hervé Marseille. If the first refused to hear about the measure, “even through the regulatory route”the second showed more flexibility by noting “a principle of reality” in businesses and the world of work. With this compromise reached between the allies, the senator from Vendée announced the « suppression » of article 3 in a press release; the word “suppression” was absent from that of the centrists. In reality, if the senatorial majority deleted the government article on Wednesday, it replaced it with an additional article « 4 bis » which takes up an amendment from Hervé Marseille, and which still provides for regularization, but ” case by case ” et ” exceptionally “under certain conditions, including compliance with “values of the Republic”.
Why such a detour? The two allies can thus claim a gain: the centrists retain the legislative inscription on regularization, while the right brandishes the symbolic scalp of the hated article. “It was indeed unacceptable to create an enforceable right, allowing illegal workers to automatically obtain a residence permit,” reiterates Mr. Retailleau. The compromise is judged « acceptable » by Gérald Darmanin, wishing to have his text voted on in the Assembly without resorting to 49.3. “There will therefore be an article on regularization for workers in tension and that is a very good thing,” the Interior Minister’s entourage is satisfied.
A torn Bruno Retailleau
With this tension resolved, an immigration text should emerge from the Senate, following the solemn vote on Tuesday, November 14. Any other scenario would have been experienced by Gérard Larcher as a snub, he who praises the institution as “the point of balance of a struggling democracy”. “Larcher is very bored, he is not only thinking of LR, but first of all of his senatorial majority”, admitted Hervé Marseille, Friday November 3.
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