Macron’s immigration bill blocked by row over regularisation of undocumented workers
President Emmanuel Macron and his government locked in difficult negotiations over draft legislation aimed at toughening up immigration and asylum laws. Originally due to be presented in the spring, it was withdrawn after the government, without an absolute majority in parliament, failed to gain necessary support from the conservative opposition. They are vehemently opposed to an article in the bill which would allow undocumented migrants working in sectors suffering labour shortages to gain full legal status. The issue has caused a deep split among members of Macron’s centre-right party, some of who, led by MP Sacha Houlié, fear that hardline interior minister Gérald Darmanin, presenter of the bill, will bow to pressure from the conservatives to remove the regularisation measures. Mediapart’s parliamentary correspondent Pauline Graulle reports.
SinceSince his centre-right party lost its absolute majority in parliament in general elections last year, Emmanuel Macron and his government have been forced into attempting political alliances to get draft legislation through the lower house, the National Assembly.
