the examination of the bill threatened by a motion of rejection in the National Assembly

2023-12-10 03:30:11
The president of the Les Républicains group, Olivier Marleix, during a question session with the government, at the National Assembly, December 5, 2023. JULIEN MUGUET FOR “LE MONDE”

Even before being debated in the Palais-Bourbon hemicycle, the immigration bill could be rejected out of hand by the deputies.

This is the disaster scenario that part of the presidential camp, and especially the government, fears before the opening of the debates in the National Assembly, scheduled for Monday, December 11, in public session. In the maneuver, the environmental group will defend a motion of rejection prior to the text, at the end of the day. “We will first have to pass this first hurdle”, breathes the vice-president (MoDem) of the National Assembly, Elodie Jacquier-Laforge.

This parliamentary procedure allows deputies to vote for or against the examination of a text in the Hemicycle before even starting any discussion. “It’s quite a tempting solution,” said the president of the Les Républicains (LR) group, to the National Assembly, Olivier Marleix, Thursday December 7 on Sud Radio. For the right, the government’s text remains a casus belli with article 3, now 4 bis, which provides for the regularization of undocumented workers in professions in shortage. The left denounces “a police law for foreigners”.

The mobilization of deputies in the Hemicycle, a decisive factor

The leader of the sixty-two LR deputies had himself tabled a preliminary rejection motion on behalf of his group but it was ultimately that of the environmentalists which was drawn. For Mr. Marleix, who displays his opposition to the text and in particular its revised version, resulting from the law committee of the National Assembly, the adoption of this motion of prior rejection would have the advantage of pushing the government to convene in the urgently a joint joint commission (CMP), where the right dominates. LR would thus be in a strong position to defend the version of the text voted by the Senate at the beginning of November, in which the executive’s copy had been clearly toughened.

But Mr. Marleix’s unilateral approach divides his own camp, with certain right-wing deputies refusing to ally with the left for the sake of ideological coherence. “Of course, we do not agree in substance with the LRs but the only thing we agree on is that the text resulting from the law committee does not satisfy anyone”, argues Benjamin Lucas, MP (ecologist) for Yvelines and bearer of the motion for prior rejection. LR elected officials must meet Monday before the start of the discussion to decide their position.

Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers “Immigration” bill: the right displays its divisions before the examination of the text in the Assembly

Is this motion for prior rejection likely to be adopted? “Arithmetically, yes the oppositions can come together and vote against the text on Monday (…). That would mean that the Nupes [Nouvelle Union populaire écologique et sociale] and the LRs would agree against the general interest”, said the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, Friday December 8, on France Info.

You have 60% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.