Immigration Law: Aurélien Rousseau, Minister of Health, presented his resignation to Élisabeth Borne

2023-12-20 03:19:28

Will the government emerge from Tuesday evening’s vote intact? The Minister of Health Aurélien Rousseau, opposed to the adoption of the Immigration law, presented his resignation to Élisabeth Borne, according to a ministerial source, confirming information from Figaro. It was not known shortly after 1 a.m. whether it had been accepted by the Prime Minister.

A little earlier in the day, before the vote, Aurélien Rousseau, former chief of staff of the head of government, but also Sylvie Retailleau (Higher Education) and Patrice Vergriete (Housing) had “gone to see Élisabeth Borne (Tuesday) and put their resignation in the balance,” indicated a ministerial source.

These three members of the government, as well as their colleagues Rima Abdul Malak (Culture) and Roland Lescure (Industry) and the president of the Law Commission in the National Assembly, Sacha Houlié, all members of the left branch of the macronie, were to meet in the evening. The latter had informed him a little earlier that he would vote against the text resulting from the Joint Joint Commission (CMP), whose work he nevertheless chaired, and which grants large concessions to the right.

Other deputies from the left wing of Renaissance had announced their vote against, such as Stella Dupont, Cécile Rilhac, Nadia Hai and Éric Bothorel, some citing around “thirty” defections, between against or abstentions, in the group of the presidential majority .

Former Minister of Agriculture Stéphane Travert also announced his vote against, wishing to “stand out (his) voice from that of the National Rally” and noting that the version of the text resulting from the joint joint committee is “the copy of the Senate”. Historical ally of the president, MoDem President François Bayrou has made it known that he “will not accept” a text on immigration “claimed” by the RN, according to consistent sources, before changing his mind.

Élisabeth Borne denounces a trap

To try to convince the discontented and the undecided, Élisabeth Borne denounced Tuesday evening before the Renaissance deputies a “crude maneuver” by the National Rally (RN) which will vote in favor of the compromise text on immigration, according to participants in the meeting .

VIDEO. Immigration law: the RN claims “an ideological victory”, the left evokes “a great moment of dishonor”

The Prime Minister had promised at the same time that the votes of the RN would not be taken into account, calling on Renaissance elected officials to vote for the bill.

“We are facing a crude maneuver by the RN. Let’s not fall into their trap. They are planting the flag on our text even though they did not vote for it in the Senate and have been saying for several weeks that they cannot vote for a text of regularization through work,” the Prime Minister said, according to the same sources. . “We will assess the results of the vote without taking into account the votes of the RN. This assumes that we vote on the text,” she added.