The French National Assembly rejected the controversial immigration bill, which aims to control the flow of immigrants, inflicting a major political defeat on the government, amid welcome from human rights groups, who considered that the bill detracts from the basic rights of foreigners.
The memorandum rejecting the draft law, presented by the Green Bloc, was approved by a majority of 270 votes against 265 votes, which included the left, right, and extreme right. Adopting it leads to stopping the consideration of the text even before discussing the material in substance.
The left and far-right welcomed the adoption of the rejection memorandum, and left-wing representatives called for the resignation of Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, according to the France 24 website.
This step constitutes a blow to Darmanin, who bet on finding a special way with the right to pass his text in the National Assembly, after it was adopted in the Senate in a very strict version.
The minister said at the start of the discussion on Monday, December 11, “Who is afraid of discussion? Those who will agree within an unnatural alliance, so that the French do not see that things are progressing,” hoping to pressure the opposition to prevent a vote on the rejection motion.
“It seems like the end of the road for his law and for him,” Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the “France Proud” party (far-left), said on X after the vote.
The head of the far-right National Rally party, Marine Le Pen, responded, “The rejection expressed this evening is very strong,” considering that she “protected the French from attracting immigrants.”
The new immigration project has led to divisions for more than a year between various sectors of the political class in France, which is witnessing the rise of the extreme right with the National Rally party.
The head of the Defense of Rights in France denounced the draft immigration law, considering that it removes a number of guarantees currently stipulated to protect the basic rights of foreigners.
In France, there are 5.1 million foreigners in legal status, or 7.6% of the population. France receives more than half a million refugees. Authorities estimate that there are between 600,000 and 700,000 illegal immigrants in the country.
