France: The French parliament has passed legislation toughening France’s immigration policy. Both Ms. Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) and French President’s, Mr. Emmanuel Macron, centrist Renaissance party supported the amended bill.
Mr. Macron was accused by leftists of caving into the far-right. But the majority in the lower house was so large that Ms. Le Pen’s support was unnecessary for the ruling party.
The goal of the bill was to demonstrate to Macron that he could be a tough immigration policymaker while still welcoming foreign labour to boost the economy in job-starved sectors, according to the report.
A major component of the bill stipulated that foreigners would only be eligible for certain social security benefits after living in France for five years, or thirty months if they were employed.
Human rights groups criticised it as France’s most discriminatory immigration law in decades, as per the statement.
“We can rejoice in ideological progress, an ideological victory even for the National Rally, since this is now enshrined into law as a national priority,” Ms. Le Pen said. Disappointed left-wingers accused Mr. Macron of giving the far-right a boost.
“With this text directly inspired by RN pamphlets against immigration, we are facing a shift in the history of the republic and its fundamental values,” French Communist Party leader, Mr. Fabien Roussel, remarked.
In the June 2022 elections, Mr. Macron’s centrist Renaissance party lost its majority in parliament. Ever since the government has repeatedly found itself unable to secure parliamentary votes.
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