Paris (AFP)

"Irrealist" and "unenforceable" according to the opposition, potentially "counterproductive" for experts: the announcement of Edward Philippe, who said Monday during the debate on immigration that the government was bending over "the idea of ​​quotas ", antiphon of the right, surprised beyond the hemicycle.

The theme was sketched half-word by Emmanuel Macron earlier this year, in his letter of January 13 in the middle of the crisis of "yellow vests": he spoke then of "annual objectives". On Monday, in the National Assembly, his Prime Minister was more direct: "I'm not afraid to think about the idea of ​​quotas," he told parliamentarians in his opening speech of this debate by Mr. Macron.

The idea had been divided for several weeks within the government itself.

"Regarding professional immigration", we must "have a pragmatic approach in relation to our workforce needs," said Monday Philippe Philippe, referring to a category of migration that concerns nearly 34,000 people in France.

"And if we had to pilot by quantitative objectives our immigration in professional matters", he continued, "we should question the interest of quotas by nationalities or by professional sectors".

"It's a bit surprising," says Jean-Christophe Dumont, head of the International Migration Division of the OECD, particularly troubled by the possibility of categorization by nationality.

Of the several thousand professional immigrants, half are made up of people regularized by work (around 8,000) or present on the territory under the talent passport (more than 8,000).

"It could even be counterproductive, because it risks introducing rigidities into the system and if we want to dick the thousands remaining in 10 sectors of activity, for example, there is nothing left," he says. -he.

"The modernization of the instruments for steering economic immigration is necessary, but we are very much in the dark about a tiny figure," says Dumont.

- "Inspiration Nicolas Sarkozy" -

If Édouard Philippe acknowledged, in his speech, that "quotas can not be applied to asylum or family immigration" areas protected by European texts, he however stressed that the latter family category " can not escape control ":" We must fight against abuse and fraud, and tighten the criteria where it is necessary ".

The Prime Minister has thus paved the way for a tightening of this route of entry into France, which concerned some 90,000 people in 2018, and whose family reunification is only one sub-part representing some 12,000 spouses and children of foreigners .

More than half of the family immigration is made up of families of French who bring them to the territory, while the rest is mainly the result of family reunification of European Union nationals.

"Of course, this legal way must not be abused, but we are talking about a very small number of people," says the economist.

If certain margins of maneuver exist, "because France is not at the maximum European criteria and could tighten the screw" including delaying the grouping, it could make integration more difficult, he warns. Especially since, he says, "in reality, the grouping takes already 4 years on average", is much more than the limit of the maximum European deadline.

"The quotas, the Mazeaud report already said (...) that it was unfeasible, unrealistic and that it could create situations of rupture of equality. (...) I do not see by which magic recipe the government could requalify "this measure, swept Boris Vallaud (PS), to the Assembly.

In his report, Pierre Mazeaud had indeed, in 2008 as chairman of a commission on a report on immigration, dismissed the idea of ​​immigration quotas, saying for example "that this device is not useful to the control of the flows of the professional immigration (...) and impossible to realize, from a constitutional and conventional point of view, for the family immigration ".

"It is clear that the inspiration is Nicolas Sarkozy", for its part castigated Olivier Faure, first secretary of the PS. "

But even Eric Ciotti (LR) has not tasted the idea: "It's easy to say + the quotas are not taboo + But what does it mean? What is the calendar? Where is the law and the vote in Parliament? "

© 2019 AFP