If the immigration law remains partially consistent with candidate Macron’s initial program, particularly in his approach to integration and European management of migration issues, it concretizes a shift on quotas, the rights of foreigners and social assistance…
Economy first! During his campaign for the presidential election and in the weeks following his election in 2017, Emmanuel Macron prioritized the transformation of the country and the “start-up nation” that he called for, abandoning sovereign issues and migratory. His program on immigration, summarized in a handful of measures, then reflected an open position, insisting on the need for rapid integration, with simplified procedures, all within a European framework. This approach remained in line with his positions as Minister of the Economy, where immigration was more presented in his speech as an “opportunity” than as a burden for France.
But, faced with a drop in popularity and unfavorable polls from the first months of his first five-year term, the head of state will make a very rapid turnaround on the subject, investing the migratory field with a firmer tone. The creation of “hot spots” in Libya and the objective of having no migrants on the streets by the end of 2017 will be the first clear signals of this turnaround. They will be followed by a first bill called “asylum and immigration”, carried by Gérard Collomb in 2018, and already welcomed by the right, while creating tensions within its majority.
In 2022, Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen were still clearly opposed on several aspects of immigration policy. While the far-right candidate defended the national priority, the abolition of the right of soil and wanted to process asylum requests only from abroad, the outgoing president always placed the emphasis on stricter and conditioned integration, as well as than on European border management. Without going any further.
However, he will announce a new immigration bill for early 2023, presenting it as a “necessary” overhaul of the reception system as a whole, deemed “inefficient and inhumane”. The recently adopted immigration bill will finalize this change in the line of Macronism, with major concessions made to the right and even substantive support for the National Rally.
Among the legal measures that candidate Macron had not announced in his presidential programs, we find significant restrictions on social benefits for non-European foreigners, a tightening of the conditions for regularization of undocumented workers, access to French nationality and family reunification, and changes in migration quotas, forfeiture of nationality, and land rights, even if it maintains some of Macron’s initial visions. Among the points of tension, State Medical Aid (AME) has been maintained, even if its access will be more restrictive.
In 2017, Emmanuel Macron set 4 objectives in terms of immigration and asylum: give absolute priority to integration, promote knowledge immigration, ensure that France assumes its fair share in welcoming refugees while returning those who are not accepted to the border more effectively and finally promoting a Europe that protects its borders while respecting its values.
“Integration in France requires, above all, mastery of the language, which conditions employment and integration, and knowledge of the values ??of the Republic,” said the candidate’s program. .
“France must live up to its historical tradition of welcoming, while showing itself, in always dignified conditions, inflexible with people who do not meet the conditions of stay on our territory. A political refugee, this is not is not someone who chooses to leave their country for comfort,” assured Emmanuel Macron on France Inter on February 1, 2017.
During the 2022 presidential election, Emmanuel Macron did not propose any real change compared to his first five-year term.
