INTERVIEW
Emmanuel Macron said Monday night when he was in his majority that he had to look at the subject of immigration "in the face" and not be "a bourgeois party" because it is the working classes "who live with" and have migrated to far right. Gilles Le Gendre, president of the group La Republique en Marche (LREM) in the National Assembly, was at the microphone of Europe 1 Tuesday to react to these remarks.
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.
"What is important is that we put an end to 30 years of inefficiency of migration policy," says Gilles Le Gendre. Immigrants enter our territory and who are destined to stay there are poorly treated. In addition, the inability to manage the flows created situations that are difficult to tolerate in some parts of our country and with some of our fellow citizens.
"There may be some abuse"
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".
One of the most talked about issues is state medical aid, granted to immigrants, including those in an irregular situation. Gilles Le Gendre assures that it represents "something sacred, especially for the medical world". He continues: "We will never question this principle but there may be some abuses in perhaps small proportions, perhaps important, we must evaluate it because these abuses may have deleterious effects.
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. Gilles Le Gendre, meanwhile, believes that it produces effects but they are "imperfect and too slow".
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