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Prime Minister Édouard Philippe with the Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner on November 6, 2019. REUTERS / Charles Platiau

" Quotas " qualified professionals on one side, fight against illegal immigration by hardening access to care for the other, Édouard Philippe defended " a fair balance " by presenting Wednesday, November 6, his immigration plan criticized even in the ranks of the majority.

Édouard Philippe confirmed on Wednesday that will be debated each year in Parliament from 2020 " quantitative targets or quotas " on economic immigration, by sector of activity and " territorialized ".

" Quantitative objectives or quotas, the two terms fit me ," said the Prime Minister in reference to the semantic debate on the subject. " We decided to have quotas or quantitative targets exclusively in the context of professional immigration, not in the context of the right to asylum or family reunification, " said Philippe. " We do not think in terms of nationality but in terms of skills, " he said.

" Piloting by qualitative objective "

These quotas for the recruitment of foreign workers will not be limiting. " It's a quantitative objective, it does not make sense to the unit. One can imagine a range, "on the number of roofers to recruit for example, explained the Prime Minister.

" Even in times of full employment, there are still vacancies, " said Labor Minister Muriel Pénicaud, recalling that one company out of two said currently have recruitment difficulties. " The subject is not quantitative but qualitative, " she added, pointing out that economic immigration is " fairly weak " (33,502 residence permits in 2018, or 13% of the total).

Is the granting of a job title easier, easier and more planned in relation to the needs of the economy? I think we have to say yes. After, how much? I think it's a citizen debate.

Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, President of Medef on immigration quotas 06/11/2019 - by BFM Play

The government has also confirmed the goal by 2027 of " doubling the number of students ". France has 325,000 foreign students, according to budget documents for 2020.

Screw tour on sickness protection

On the other hand, the government is also planning a turnaround on illegal immigration. The health protection will be reduced from 12 to 6 months for the rejected and the undocumented. The government has also confirmed its willingness to fight against frauds using medical aid from the state (AME), which benefits undocumented migrants, as well as the establishment of a three-month waiting period for access to the care of asylum seekers.

For his part, the Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner promised the opening of three new detention centers and 16,000 new places of accommodation for refugees. He also announced that the insalubrious migrant camps in northeastern Paris, where between 1 500 and 3 000 exiles, will be " evacuated before the end of the year ".