Paris (AFP)
At the approach of the debate on immigration to Parliament, officials of the majority attempt to dispel this highly flammable theme, put forward by Emmanuel Macron and irritated some of the "walkers".
A year and a half after the vote on Gérard Collomb's asylum and immigration law, which for the first time divided LREM representatives (1 vote against and 14 abstentions), it is time for caution in the ranks, where the subject is potentially explosive.
The speech of the Head of State Monday before the government and some 200 parliamentarians of his majority, surprised. "We do not have the right not to look at this issue," the head of state, denouncing embezzlement of the right of asylum.
"The bourgeois have no problem with that (...) The popular classes live with," he said, calling his majority to "overcome cleavages and taboos".
For several months Emmanuel Macron has been trying to highlight the theme of immigration, believing that the presidential election of 2022 will be played on sovereign subjects and he will find himself again facing Marine Le Pen.
He had wanted to make it one of the central themes of the great post-crisis debate of "yellow vests" but the Prime Minister then, according to his entourage, pushed to make a sub-theme, fearing the failures of the debate on the national identity of the Sarkozy era.
But this presidential strategy is not unanimous in his camp where some, including the left wing, fear losing their soul in a political calculation.
The debates without a vote scheduled for September 30 in the Assembly, October 2 in the Senate, should "not serve as a stepping stone for those who make their business with an unreal association immigration-Islam-delinquency", warned 15 LREM deputies of the "social democratic collective", in a platform calling instead to speak of "integration".
Another source of discomfort, the fact that the president has addressed in his speech the issue of migration, after talking about security and "the subject of communitarianism".
On the other hand, other members of the left wing, like Brigitte Bourguignon, elected from Pas-de-Calais where the subject is sensitive, welcome a "necessary speech of truth" from the president, who "seeks to gather by addressing the popular categories who are most concerned by the issue ".
As for Aurélien Taché, another figure on the left, he chose the coup by inviting on Monday to the Assembly Carola Rackete, captain of the Sea Watch 3, pursued in Italy for wanting to land migrants forcibly.
- "Firmness" but "humanism" -
Recognizing "a tug in the majority," spokeswoman Olivia Grégoire called the "walkers" to "work together" at a common "line". Spokeswoman of the Macronist party, Aurore Bergé, she advocated "firmness" but with "humanism".
Among the issues raised in recent days by the executive are the right to asylum to avoid abuse or the basket of care of state medical aid (AME) which benefit foreigners in an irregular situation. He did not return to the question of possible quotas of economic immigrants, mentioned previously.
In an open letter, Thursday in L'Opinion, 35 MPs essentially LREM and MoDem urged the government not to touch the AME. According to the daily, the health minister Agnès Buzyn would have obtained the guarantee that there will be no generalized plan shot on this aid.
Edouard Philippe assured that he would take into account the debates in Parliament before any decision. "The idea is that we can flatten out everything that happens," said Interior Minister Christophe Castaner. Some want the opening of substantive work to improve.
For government spokeswoman Sibeth Ndiaye, parliamentarians of the majority must be able "to have a serene, enlightened debate that does not throw anathema from one side to another".
Initiatives are multiplying in this light. Matignon prepares a "summary document" on migration policy and about forty parliamentarians meet on Monday Beauvau place.
To try to bring the points of view closer, an intergroup meeting (LREM-MoDem) is also scheduled on Tuesday, with the ministers involved.
© 2019 AFP