The main measures of the text voted on by the joint committee.
● Social benefits and APL with variable geometry
This was the element that shook the joint committee (CMP) on Monday evening. And the one who helped unravel it Tuesday morning. It could also be the one that loses some precious votes in the adoption of the text. The restriction of social benefits to foreigners – and in particular personalized housing assistance – was one of the strong points of the senatorial text but a point of no return for the left wing of Renaissance.
While the Senate version limited their access to five years of “stable and regular” residence in France, compared to six months today, the CMP arrived at a compromise which marks the victory of the right: the APL could not be affected only after five years on French territory by non-working immigrants. On the other hand, they could be affected from three months for those with a job compared to six months currently. Finally, it will only be possible to receive family allowances after five years for those who do not have a job, compared to 30 months for those who do.
● Rejection of the regularization of clandestine work, the right wins
This is definitively the end of article 3 of Gérald Darmanin’s initial bill which provided for the automatic regularization of illegal workers working in so-called shortage occupations. It is indeed article 4 bis, which came out of the Senate fully armed, which is essential in the version of the CMP. It is the sole hand of the prefects, provided that the employers have requested it in writing and that the undocumented migrant justifies “the exercise of a job in tension for at least twelve months” instead of eight months in the initial text. However, everyone congratulates themselves: on the right, for having tightened the system, in the majority, because according to them, this would mean 10,000 more regularizations each year. At the same time, article 4, which introduced immediate access to work for asylum seekers, was definitively deleted despite the tabling of the socialist amendment.
● Reinstatement of the offense of illegal residence and relaxation of expulsion conditions
It was an old demand of the right and it imposed itself on the CMP in the senatorial version: from now on, it will not only be illegal to be illegal in France, it will be an offense punishable by one year in prison and a fine of 3750 euros. Furthermore, Éric Ciotti obtained from Gérald Darmanin the acceleration of the construction of a detention center, prior to expulsions. Eleven new administrative detention centers (CRA) will open in France by 2027, the Minister of the Interior promised the president of the LR.
Also read: Pierre Brochand (ex-DGSE): “Regularizing illegal immigrants in professions under pressure means starting an inexhaustible pump”
He also committed to accelerating the deadlines for creating new places in detention centers. It must be said that the text validates the facilitation of the expulsion of major foreign offenders having been definitively sentenced for crimes or offenses punishable by 5 years or more of imprisonment. Immigrants who arrived in France as minors will be affected. Furthermore, the new text specifies the conditions for forfeiture of nationality for dual nationals convicted of intentional homicide.
● Restriction of land rights, quotas and family reunification
Accessing French nationality will no longer be automatic. This questioning of land rights is a very old demand of the right. Through the maneuver, Éric Ciotti obtained “exemption from the application of land law for minors who have committed a crime”. Furthermore, since its passage in the Senate, the text has established migration quotas, with Parliament determining for three years the number of foreigners authorized to settle in France for each category of stay, with the exception of asylum. Furthermore, the student residence permit will be conditional on “the serious nature of the studies” and the payment of a deposit. Finally, restrictions on family reunification are introduced.
● AME: Gérard Larcher demands from Élisabeth Borne a firm commitment to a specific law
State medical aid had two faults: the risk of being thrown out of the Constitutional Council because it could appear as a legislative rider in a text on immigration and the risk of antagonizing the majority deputies. During the discussion before the Laws Committee of the National Assembly, they restored it in its entirety when the elected officials of the Luxembourg Palace replaced it with “emergency medical aid”.
It was limited to “the provision of prophylaxis and treatment of serious illnesses and acute pain, pregnancy-related care, statutory vaccinations and preventive medicine examinations”. As a good deminer but not without his strength, Gérard Larcher, the President of the Senate, stepped up to the plate and obtained a letter from Élisabeth Borne in which she committed to returning to it with a specific reform from the first quarter.
