Immigration law: “At this stage we cannot speak of an agreement, but we are moving forward,” says Gérald Darmanin

2023-12-19 07:50:31

No white smoke yet between the government and the Republicans (LR) on the immigration bill. The Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin affirmed this Monday morning at the microphone of LCI that there was no “agreement” with LR “at this stage”. “But we are moving forward,” he declared, while the joint committee (CMP) on this text is due to meet at 5 p.m. “There are still many details to be resolved (…) We are closer to an agreement than to a disagreement,” supported the Minister of the Interior. “We have marked out the path to find, based on the Senate text, the possibility of reaching an agreement. »

This agreement with LR seems essential for the survival of the immigration bill, a week after the surprise vote of a rejection motion in the National Assembly which rejected the text even before any debate. “We would not understand in a democracy like France that we do not have a firm text on immigration,” Gérald Darmanin insisted again on Monday, nevertheless assuring that he did not “want to accept just anything”.

The question of State Medical Aid

Particularly at the heart of the debates: State Medical Aid (AME) which LR wishes to reform at all costs. According to Gérald Darmanin, this question was left out of the immigration bill. “The Prime Minister (Élisabeth Borne) is committed to ensuring that the government presents texts before the month of March” on this subject, declared the Minister of the Interior. “We can see that there is a factor of improvement on the AME, but not in this text” which is not a “text on health”, argued Gérald Darmanin.

Position confirmed in parallel on RMC-BFM by the head of the LR group in the Senate Bruno Retailleau. He asked Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne “to send before 5 p.m. (start time of the joint committee) a letter to Gérard Larcher”, the LR president of the Senate without which there “will be no agreement “. Bruno Retailleau demands that this letter include three points: a “commitment to the inclusion of the reform of the AME in an ordinary law”, “a timetable at the very beginning of the year”, as well as the hardening of this AME.

???? Bruno Retailleau political guest in the #FaceAFace on RMC: “I asked the Prime Minister to send a letter, before 5 p.m., to Gérard Larcher, in which there must be three things. There will be no agreement if there is not this letter.” pic.twitter.com/DeMVP4lPsb

— RMC (@RMCInfo) December 18, 2023

Despite everything, Gérald Darmanin recognized that the text that came out of the Senate – the working basis of the CMP – was not “perfect”. “We have an ideal, but also realities: we have a relative majority, so we should not be blamed for seeking a compromise with those who want to work with us,” he added on the LCI set. “It’s very hard to get a text on immigration adopted, there have always been debates. It’s normal, it creates controversy. »

However, the Minister of the Interior once again rejected a possible use of article 49.3 to have this text adopted without a vote. “If we multiply the 49.3, we refuse the debate,” he justified. “I tell the French that we are working, it is difficult, sometimes we suffer, but we will reach an agreement,” he insisted. But for now, Gérald Darmanin remains suspended from the LR decision. And therefore to this letter requested by Bruno Retailleau.