“We come out of the sequence exhausted,” confides environmentalist deputy Benjamin Lucas. The whirlwind of the immigration bill, passed on December 19, has left behind exhausted elected officials, who welcome the end-of-year holiday break with relief. “I was exclusively in the National Assembly for more than a month. But in reality it was a year of work, dozens of hours of hearings, around twenty trips…” recalls the man who victoriously defended the motion to reject the immigration text. Taking advantage of the calendar void at the Palais Bourbon, Benjamin Lucas wants to “take a step back” before relaunching himself at the start of the school year, not in the Assembly, but in the “field”, in his constituency of Yvelines.
The wave of exhaustion also swept away the elected representatives of the presidential majority, a considerably weakened outcome of the immigration sequence. Vice-president of the Laws Committee, “very intense” during the examination of the text, Renaissance MP Caroline Abadie did not escape the general overwork: “Silence and disconnection do a lot of good. We really needed it.” Entangled in the puzzle of a relative majority, the Macronist troops had to give in to the demands of intractable Republicans on immigration. A turn to the right which fractured the presidential camp, pushing one in four Macronist deputies not to vote in favor of the law and causing the resignation of the Minister of Health Aurélien Rousseau. Caroline Abadie admits: “It’s tiring to be in the relative majority” Before tempering: “However, intellectually I find it more interesting. And it’s the wish of the French so we take it as such.” Faced with the risks of disintegration and immobility, the MP wants to be confident: “The motivation is intact. We didn’t go through this period to stop here.”
At the National Rally (RN), where the adoption of the immigration law marks the inscription of “national preference” in French law, we claim an “ideological victory”. “Overall, the state of mind and morale are very good,” indicates RN spokesperson Laurent Jacobelli. If he explains having taken a few days off, the deputy for Moselle assures him: “I continue to work.” Same working atmosphere in Gironde, with his fellow sailor Edwige Diaz: “I’m not on vacation.” Rapporteur of the immigration text for the RN group alongside Yoann Gillet, she assures that she has escaped the blow of parliamentary fatigue: “We are enduring and experienced deputies. We’re used to it, so I’m not exhausted.” And to say: “The Macronists are much more so than us”, in reference to the “hangover feeling” of the president of the Renaissance Laws Commission Sacha Houlié. Proof according to the MP that “Marine Le Pen did not miss out” in appointing the two elected rapporteurs of the text.
The same energy seems to animate the Republicans (LR), reinvigorated after having made the government bend on the immigration bill. Member of the very restricted joint committee, which led to the joint drafting of a text, LR MP Annie Genevard underlines the “excellent” state of mind of the group. The party’s general secretary brushes aside any suspicion of fatigue: “I have a good constitution so I know how to withstand days of debates, long evenings and early mornings.” Back in Doubs, the chosen one is enjoying a relative “Christmas truce”. “It’s never total rest when you’re an MP. Part of our activity is local, she indicates before detailing her program. I receive emails and requests for intervention every day. Next week I’m doing some company visits and I’m going to visit an elected official.”
In “semi-rest”, the frontist Laurent Jacobelli is active on television sets, deserted by the political class during this holiday period. After an appearance on Franceinfo on Wednesday, the deputy for Moselle reiterated this Friday on France Inter. The same week, his colleague from Yonne Julien Odoul was the guest of CNews and Europe 1 while the appearance of sailor Thomas Ménage on France Inter on Thursday was canceled at the last minute after the death of Jacques Delors. A strong media presence of the National Rally which is “not a constraint or a request from the Navy” supports Edwige Diaz. “It’s a kind of permanence that happens in good understanding,” she explains. Continuing to fight the immigration battle, the representatives of the flame party nevertheless say they are “very vigilant” after the referral to the Constitutional Council by Emmanuel Macron.
