- Tweeter
republish
Less than a year after the entry into force of the asylum-immigration law, the French Parliament is revisiting this sensitive issue from Monday, October 7th. A debate wanted by Emmanuel Macron.
Emmanuel Macron wants to make an annual appointment. Announced at the conclusion of the great national debate and postponed for a week because of the death of former President Jacques Chirac, the debate on immigration opens Monday afternoon in the National Assembly and will continue Wednesday in the Senate . There is no question of writing an "asylum-immigration-integration law 2", Matignon warned; MPs and senators will have to " enlighten " the " orientations " retained by the government.
The president wants to make this issue one of the major issues of the second part of his quinquennium. " We have no right not to face the issue, " he warned in a speech to his majority Monday, September 16. No way to leave the monopoly on the far right. There is no question, either, that the running Republic behaves like a "bourgeois party" ignoring the preoccupations of the " popular classes " who " live with it ".
► To read also: Immigration: Emmanuel Macron is projected in 2022
We must " rethink " in terms of " migration and integration policy, " supported several officials of the presidential majority in a forum in the World . They call in particular to "dare to talk about economic immigration" and to imagine a policy " based on quantified objectives ".
Six axes of work
The executive has developed six areas of work for parliamentarians. One concerns asylum applications, which have increased by 22%, with some 123,000 applicants in 2018. The Government is particularly concerned about the importance among these applicants of citizens of Albania and Georgia, "safe" countries. The Ministry of the Interior also wants to place at the heart of exchanges the case of "Dublines", these migrants who made a first asylum application in a European country before formulating one in France.
The issue of social benefits for asylum seekers also needs to be addressed. Matignon wants " the search for harmonization of reception conditions in Europe ". The amount of the asylum seeker's allowance (ADA), higher than that paid in Germany, could eventually be planed. Parliamentarians will also have to look into a possible reform of State Medical Aid (MEA) (see box).
Increasing the number of places in detention centers, public development aid, financial support for integration or the attraction of talent to support sectors that are short of manpower, will also be on the debates menu. Objective: to welcome less to accommodate better, according to the delicate exercise of balance between humanism and firmness dear to the executive.
Swirling in the majority
Favorable to an integration policy facing the anti-immigration line of Marine Le Pen during the presidential campaign, Emmanuel Macron gradually hardened his speech once in power. " We are driving far too little, " he said in September 2017. A year and a half later, in the midst of the Yellow Vests crisis, he mentioned in his "letter to the French" " annual targets " for immigration, a similar idea quotas defended by François Fillon. Until this speech to his majority last month ...
This change of tone is far from unanimous in The Republic on the march, especially in the left wing of the party where some fear that he lost his soul politician calculation. The deputy of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence Delphine Bagarry denounced a speech comparable to that of " a leader of the National Front ". In two forums published one after the other, a group of deputies warned against a " hysterization that would be inversely proportional to the migration crisis " and defended the MEA in the name of public health. The executive has had to work these last days to a demining operation by multiplying appointments at Matignon and place Beauvau and closed meetings.
On the left, voices are raised against a " diversion operation " to make forget the social return, but which will only benefit the far right. " To take again the angles of the RN, the president Macron who was laying a rampart has become a bridge, " said Olivier Faure, the first secretary of the PS. The right, she calls to acts.
State medical aid at the heart of debates
State medical aid is reserved for migrants in an irregular situation, that is to say without a residence permit or an asylum receipt. The AME covers 100% of their medical expenses within the limits of social security rates. To benefit from it, two conditions are required: to be able to testify to three months of presence on the national territory and to
746 euros.
The device is very framed and does not open right to so-called "comfort" care. The MEA provides basic benefits, primarily medical and dental care, testing, hospitalization and surgery, vaccines, some screening such as HIV, contraceptive and medical expenses. Abortion. Unlike other social insured persons in France, the beneficiaries of the MEA are not entitled to certain benefits, such as spa treatments or medically assisted procreation.
In 2018, 311,000 migrants resorted to state medical aid. The cost is estimated in 2019 to 930 million euros for the state. This budget is increasing steadily: it was 605 million euros in 2014.