2023-12-21 00:47:44
Frontal opposition to the new immigration law. All the departments on the left – 32 in total and among them notably Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis, Gironde and Lot, announced this Wednesday that they would not apply the tightening of payment conditions to foreigners of the Personalized autonomy allowance (APA) provided for by the Immigration law, adopted Tuesday in the National Assembly.
“We, presidents of left-wing departments, refuse the application of the section concerning the personalized autonomy allowance (APA) of this law inspired by the extreme right, carried by an executive which claimed to embody moderation and which does not “is now more than an illustration of compromise,” they said in a press release.
“We will apply the rights and constitutional principles of our country. The City of Paris (also a department, Editor’s note) will not practice national preference for our elders with regard to the personalized autonomy allowance”, for her part declared the mayor of the capital Anne Hidalgo, also judging the “shameful” law.
Describing the text as a “serious attack on the fundamental rights of people of foreign nationality”, the departments say they want to “continue to fight against the principle of national preference by defending social assistance which is and must remain universal”.
“I will do everything possible to ensure that the Department is a Republican shield against national preference. All the inhabitants of Seine-Saint-Denis deserve solidarity and humanity. Wherever they come from. We will continue to pay APA to foreigners in a legal situation,” declared on
I will do everything possible to ensure that the Department is a Republican shield against national preference. All the inhabitants of Seine Saint Denis deserve solidarity and humanity. Wherever they come from. We will continue to pay APA to foreigners in a legal situation
— Stéphane Troussel (@StephanTroussel) December 20, 2023
A little earlier today, the Lot department also announced that it would refuse to “apply national preference for our elders”. Serge Rigal (DVG, ex-PS), president of the departmental council, proposes to “create a new universal autonomy allowance which will give exactly the same rights to Lotois who would be excluded by this law”.
According to the presidency of the department, article 19 of the immigration law, voted definitively on Tuesday, “establishes the principle of national preference” for the APA. “This allowance is allocated and paid by the Department for the benefit of all residents of the Lot who need help to age well at home or in an establishment,” underlines the press release.
Refusal to make a distinction
“It is universal aid, whether you are poor or rich, only conditioned on the fact of living regularly in our territory and having a medically proven dependence,” he points out. “The adoption of this new law establishes a difference between French Lotois or non-community foreigners (and) the latter will no longer be able to access this aid unless they can justify two and a half years of contributions or five years of residence,” lamented the Lot presidency, which therefore refuses to make such a distinction.
The Gironde department has indicated that it is following the same course of action. The PS president of the departmental council, Jean-Luc Gleyze, estimated that “we are touching on a France which risks seeing the ideas of Vichy return, whitewashed”. “Here we are in a situation where we must no longer only guarantee universal rights, but first fight to protect them from dangerous electoral, financial and/or xenophobic logics,” he indicated.
The controversial law on immigration, adopted by Parliament with the votes of the National Rally, establishes a period of five years for non-European foreigners in a legal situation who do not work, and thirty months for others, before be eligible for benefits such as family allowances or the personalized autonomy allowance (APA), a benefit paid to elderly people.
In an internal email addressed to agents of the Seine-Saint-Denis department, Stéphane Troussel denounces a “law of fear, hatred and exclusion (…) which draws a legal boundary between French people and foreigners in a legal situation” .
But according to Michel Verpeaux, professor emeritus of public law at Panthéon-Sorbonne University, departments which circumvent the law “are exposed to annulments by the administrative courts which may be referred to the prefects if they do not respect the law”. “We can think that the government will rely on the Constitutional Council to clean up what is not in conformity with the Constitution, but if it validates this provision, the law will become obligatory and the departments will be obliged to apply it,” he estimated.
The revolt has also extended to the mayors of large cities, who are calling for censorship from the Constitutional Council. “This immigration law, what a disgrace. What a stain for our Republic! », declared the PS mayor of Lille Martine Aubry.
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