Paris (AFP)

"By claiming to be humanist, we are sometimes too lax": Emmanuel Macron is on the offensive on immigration, a subject he does not want to leave to the right and the extreme right in view of the upcoming elections , including the presidential election of 2022.

A 15-day debate, called to become annual, on immigration to Parliament, the head of state on Monday set the course for the majority and the government: "We have no right not to look at it in the face.

Emmanuel Macron imposes immigration on the agenda for the start of the season, yet already bottled by other sensitive issues for the executive, such as pension reform or the PMA.

But in his eyes, the sovereign subjects, security and immigration in mind, became central in the second part of the quinquennium, which will be punctuated by the municipal elections in March 2020 and the preparation of the presidential election.

For the president, one of the priorities is to reconnect with the working classes after the crisis of "yellow vests" that has shaken the power. He asked his side to "know if we want to be a bourgeois party or not". Explaining that the bourgeois had "no problem" with immigration because "they do not cross" while "the popular classes live with".

"The left has not wanted to look at this problem for decades, so the working classes have migrated to the far right, like the three little monkeys: we do not want to watch," he said.

Immigration had been one of the first subjects to be the subject of a law, voted in September 2018. The text, considered too shy on the right, had made the majority move with different sensibilities.

"It is good to treat the subject, it is difficult to completely ignore it for five years," said a ministerial source, who sees in the upcoming debate "an opportunity to objectify a number of things."

- "Wealth" -

But, the same source regrets that in the presentation of the subject, "we do not apprehend immigration as a wealth", noting a difference of approach within the government between proponents of the right wing (Gérald Darmanin, Sébastien Lecornu ...) and those from the left.

In a forum published Tuesday, 15 deputies of the left wing of LREM also call to "avoid a hysterization inversely proportional to the migratory reality" and invite to "speak integration". MEP LREM Aurélien Taché will organize, next Monday, an "event" on the theme of reception and integration, in the presence of Carola Rackete, the captain of the humanitarian ship SeaWatch.

And the party must also take up the issue at a special executive office on September 30, the day of debate in Parliament.

For his part, in preparation for this debate, Matignon is preparing a "summary document" on the migration policy of France, a text that will compile data requested from the Ministries of the Interior, Health and Foreign and European Affairs.

The president of the National Rally, Marine Le Pen, nonetheless said on Tuesday that she did not "believe" in the hardening of Emmanuel Macron's tone, seeing only an "electoralist" attitude.

Symmetrically, the spokesman for PS deputies, Boris Vallaud, accuses the head of state to "look at the + problem of immigration by looking to the extreme right."

Immigration continues to create suspicion: according to an Ipsos-Sopra Steria poll published on Monday, 64% of French people feel that "we do not feel at home any more than before" in France.

Emmanuel Macron intends to act primarily on the right to asylum, a principle he reaffirmed but that he considers "diverted from its purpose by networks, people who manipulate". France recorded a 23% increase in files last year, including a request from Albania and Georgia that the authorities consider largely unfounded.

The debates in parliament will also focus on state medical aid (AME) to "control the costs and ensure that it goes well to people in distress," according to government spokesman Sibeth Ndiaye . This system allows illegal aliens residing in France for more than three months to benefit from access to healthcare.

JRI-bur-cg-jmt / ib / phc

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