Debates began Monday in French parliament on President Emmanuel Macron’s controversial immigration and asylum bill, which has divided his party, La République En Marche (LREM), like never before, reports FRANCE 24.
More than one thousand amendments have been proposed – with a record 200 of them from Macron’s own LREM lawmakers. Macron’s party is by far the largest party in France’s National Assembly, the lower house of parliament.
The bill is controversial in part because it would allow the children of failed asylum seekers to be detained before being expelled and for people to be prosecuted for helping illegal immigrants enter or stay in France.
In an interview with French radio RTL on Monday, Christophe Castaner, Macron’s minister in charge of relations between the executive and legislature, said opponents of the bill “lack solidarity”. He also appeared to suggest that even amending the law would be a betrayal of Macron, saying: “This legislation follows Macron’s philosophy, and I don’t think [LREM lawmakers] can ignore the platform on which they were elected.”
Richard Ferrand, parliamentary leader of the party, called 20 of the bill’s opponents to order at a preliminary meeting of LREM lawmakers to discuss the legislation on Tuesday. French daily Le Monde reported that Ferrand exclaimed: “You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs, and if an omelette needs breaking – I’ll do it!”
For his part, Macron said in a wide-ranging interview with French news networks BFM-TV and Mediapart on Sunday that the bill is necessary because, “Europe is facing an unprecedented wave of migration and will continue to do so”.
The French president justified the proposed detention of children of failed asylum seekers by arguing that, “otherwise, you can’t expel any family”.