Referendum on immigration: “I do not agree with the idea at all”, declares Éric Woerth

Europe 1 9:01 a.m., February 13, 2024

Two months after the adoption of the immigration law, the Republicans, a large part of the measures they advocated were rejected by the Constitutional Council, are embarking on the path of the shared initiative referendum (RIP). The aim is to restore some of the controversial measures through a referendum vote. An initiative that does not support Éric Woerth, quaestor of the National Assembly and Renaissance deputy for Oise, guest of La Grande interview Europe 1-CNews on Tuesday.

"There are many measures taken in the immigration law which was passed, this debate took place. Let's check that the law is effective, that it allows us to reduce flows and that it also allows us to expel immigrants who have nothing to do on French territory when they are in an irregular situation and have not been regularized", he declared adding that France "must be absolutely firm on foreigners who behave in any way."

RIP, a complex procedure

The shared initiative referendum (RIP) provides for the possibility of organizing a popular consultation on a proposed law. For this, 185 of the 925 parliamentarians must submit a so-called “referendum” bill. Then, the Council must verify its admissibility, by looking in particular if the consultation concerns the areas of "the organization of public authorities, reforms relating to economic, social or environmental policy and the public services which contribute to them".

If the request is admissible, the collection of citizen signatures could begin, in order to try to reach 10% of voters, or 4.87 million signatures, within nine months, to pave the way for a referendum . If the signatures are obtained, the National Assembly and the Senate have six months to examine the new bill. If they fail to do so, the President of the Republic must submit it to a French referendum. The RIP has never been successful since its introduction into the Constitution in 2008, at the initiative of Nicolas Sarkozy.

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