Paris (AFP)
What course for the migration policy of France: as wanted by Emmanuel Macron, the National Assembly on Monday addresses this highly sensitive issue that divides into the majority, pending any decisions of the executive.
The kick-off of this debate without a vote will be given at 4 pm by Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, followed by Jean-Yves le Drian (Foreign Affairs), Christophe Castaner (Interior) and Agnès Buzyn (Health).
Then the speakers from the different political groups, including Marine Le Pen (RN) and Jean-Luc Mélénchon (LFI), will speak for more than two and a half hours before the ministers' replies.
To support the discussion, which will continue Wednesday in the Senate, the executive will rely on a summary sent Friday to the majority, which lists "10 facts" on the migration policy of France and "10 actions" led by the government.
"Six lines of work" will be presented in the hemicycle, including a reflection on the social benefits granted to asylum seekers, "to ensure that France is not less welcoming but not necessarily more attractive either," said Matignon.
For several months, the head of state tries to put forward this theme, convinced that the presidential election of 2022 will be played on the sovereign subjects and he will find himself again facing Marine Le Pen.
"We do not have the right not to attack, not to see," he launched in mid-September by majority.
The violent remarks of the polemicist Eric Zemmour on September 28, assimilating Muslim immigrants to "colonizers" showed the inflammability of the subject. Justice opened an investigation for "provoking hatred," but LR MPs defended his "freedom of speech."
- "Do more, talk less" -
The debate will include the "sharp increase in the asylum application", increased to 123,625 people in 2018, an increase of 22% in one year, says Matignon. Among these applicants, Albanians and Georgians, nationals of countries considered "safe", are respectively in second and third positions, behind the Afghans.
"Too many asylum seekers from safe countries of origin are actually more motivated by the conditions of access to our health system and by the length of our procedures: we have to be faster." "We must also harmonize the procedures and reception conditions in Europe," said Edouard Philippe Saturday at the JDD.
"For a major claimant lodged by the State and isolated, the amount paid in France" as aid to the asylum seeker (ADA) "is 50% higher than that paid in Germany," says Matignon.
On the social side, Emmanuel Macron rejected the idea of abolishing state medical aid (AME) for undocumented migrants, but wanted an assessment of the healthcare basket to fight against certain "excesses".
A reform of universal health protection (PUMa, ex-CMU) for asylum seekers, introducing a three-month waiting period for non-emergency care, would also be considered.
Several LREM officials, including Stanislas Guérini, have also called for a policy "based on quantified objectives", an idea close to quotas.
"Quotas would not make sense for asylum seekers or family reunification, but we can discuss our needs for foreign labor, and set ambitious targets for the reception of students, "said Edouard Philippe.
In the majority, the emphasis on the theme of immigration, which had already divided during the vote on the Asylum and Immigration Act in 2018, made part of the left wing creak. "This is the kind of subject where it is better to do more and talk less," says a heavyweight.
But the government has worked to clear the issue, multiplying the appointments of explanation. "The tensions (internal) have fallen," says the boss of LREM deputies Gilles Le Gendre.
"There will be no law asylum-immigration-integration 2", assured Matignon. But "nothing forbids that provisions can join other legislative vehicles," says Florent Boudié (LREM).
The right skeptically sees the presidential intentions, saying wait "acts".
On the left, we denounce "a form of instrumentalization" of the theme of immigration, "a desire to make foot" to the voters of the National Assembly.
© 2019 AFP