Bruno Retailleau discussed during discussions with François Bayrou on December 13 a method for toughening migration policies without risking censorship from the Socialist Party. Bruno Retailleau wants to take on several senatorial bills without launching a new text entirely dedicated to immigration.
Water in his wine without changing the substance of his intentions. The Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, explained this Friday, December 13 to the new Prime Minister, François Bayrou, that he was ready to renounce an immigration law, according to information from Europe 1 confirmed by BFMTV.com.
In exchange, several measures which were planned to integrate this text would be the subject of separate legislative proposals.
“What we want is to find the right vectors to achieve our objectives in the fight against illegal immigration,” explains a close friend of Bruno Retailleau.
A very high risk immigration law
Exit therefore the text on immigration promised by the spokesperson for the resigning government, Maud Bregeon for the “beginning of 2025”. On the menu of this law, we were to find a proposal from the tenant of Place Beauvau to extend detention in administrative detention centers by a maximum of 90 days, as is the case today, to 210.
This law was also to include articles challenged by the Constitutional Council during the last immigration bill last January. Among these, Maud Bregeon notably cited the measures aimed at toughening family reunification.
The maneuver had everything of a bet: last January, this text almost imploded the macronie. Enough to cool the ardor of Michel Barnier who could not do without the votes of the presidential bloc to pass this law. Bruno Retailleau had also angered part of the central camp, including Emmanuel Macron, by explaining that immigration was “not an opportunity” for France.
Measures scattered in several texts
But the cards are now reshuffled with the arrival of François Bayrou at Matignon. Obviously determined to stay in Beauvau, Bruno Retailleau proposed a new method to the Prime Minister.
To extend the duration in administrative detention centers, the Minister of the Interior discussed with François Bayrou the possibility of taking up a bill tabled in the Senate which already goes in this direction.
It is up to the Luxembourg Palace to vote on it before the deputies, probably LR, take it up in the hope of getting their colleagues to vote on it. Same story for the restoration of illegal stay which could also be the subject of a vote in the Senate before being supported in the National Assembly.
Another process that could be used for a substantial modification of State medical aid (AME), this system which allows 100% coverage of most medical costs for foreigners in an irregular situation: the addition of an amendment to the 2025 social security budget in the coming weeks.
Avoid censorship of socialists
This cutting of future pieces of the future immigration law would have one merit: that of softening relations with the socialists.
The president of the PS deputies Boris Vallaud already explained on Sunday on BFMTV that his troops would vote to censure the Bayrou government if the executive presents a new text to toughen migration policies in France.
The new tenant of Matignon therefore has every interest in going in the direction of the PS deputies who represent no less than 66 elected representatives in the National Assembly, almost double the Modem deputies and 22 more than the LR.
The socialists could, however, raise their voice even through scattered legislative proposals. As for Marine Tondelier, the boss of the Ecologists, she judged on Saturday on France inter that Bruno Retailleau was “not a calming person”, judging that this “does not convince her not to censor” François Bayrou.
Station at Le Pen
The crest line is just as tenuous for the National Rally. At the beginning of October, Marine Le Pen demanded a new immigration law by the beginning of 2025, wanting it to be “restrictive”.
In his absence, she had threatened to pass a motion of censure. Will RN deputies agree to vote on different measures based on proposed laws instead of a major text? The question remains open.
After her meeting with François Bayrou this Monday morning, Marine Le Pen did not discuss migration issues.
