Emmanuel Macron and his centrist government are battling a growing political crisis in France after a minister resigned in protest over its controversial immigration bill backed by the far-right, reports The Guardian.
Aurélien Rousseau, who was appointed as health minister five months ago, offered his resignation immediately after MPs passed the legislation on Tuesday evening. Shortly after midday on Wednesday, government spokesperson Olivier Véran said it had been accepted.
Several other ministers, including Clément Beaune who is in charge of transport, who had expressed opposition to the redrafted legislation were reportedly summoned to see the prime minister, Élisabeth Borne, after the vote in an attempt to avoid further cabinet desertions.
The Elysée said Macron would make a statement from the palace on a prime-time news chatshow on Wednesday. However, a communique from France Télévisions announcing his appearance said the president would talk about “key moments” in 2023 and highlights of the coming year.
The original immigration bill, which had been 18 months in the drafting, was scuppered this month when opposition MPs had it thrown out of the Assemblée nationale before it was debated. As a result, the government, which has no majority in the lower house, passed it to a joint committee of seven MPs and seven senators from the upper house – which is controlled by the right – to find a compromise.
When the already controversial text returned to the assembly, the senators had introduced so many hardline measures – including immigration “quotas” and restrictions on welfare benefits for undocumented migrants – that the far-right leader Marine Le Pen claimed it was an “ideological victory” for her party’s anti-immigration policies.
Borne has denied there was any crisis in the government. She insisted she had “ensured that this bill respects our values” and that the legislation contained “useful and effective measures that our fellow citizens have been waiting for”.