French government suffers major setback as MPs reject immigration bill
Left-wing and right-wing opposition lawmakers joined forces in France on Monday to vote through a ‘motion of rejection’ against the government’s draft immigration legislation, and bring all debates on the bill to an immediate halt.
It was a serious blow to President Emmanuel Macron’s government, and Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin faced calls to resign. MPs from far-left France Unbowed and Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally combined forces in the vote on Monday, which squeezed through 270-265.
Darmanin said before the vote that stopping debates on the bill in the lower house would be a “denial of democracy.” The speaker, Yael Braun-Pivet, said MPs would be “shooting themselves in the foot” if they voted not to have a debate on the proposals.
The rejection motion, while denying MPs the chance to discuss the bill in the National Assembly, also signals a major failure of the government in convincing lawmakers to debate the text. The rejection does not signal the end of the immigration bill though as the government can opt to allow it to continue on to the Senate.
But the government is facing calls to withdraw the bill in its entirety which would force ministers to come up with a full rewrite of their proposals.