Macron suffers a ‘stunning’ setback over his immigration crackdown

Emmanuel Macron refused to accept the resignation of his interior minister on Monday evening after the government’s immigration bill was thrown out of parliament. It was a crushing humiliation for Gerald Darmanin, as well as Macron, and a moment of exquisite pleasure for their many political opponents. 

In an unprecedented show of unity, right and left came together to adopt by just five votes a motion proposed by the Green Party to reject the bill without even debating it. They did so, however, for different reasons.

In the eyes of the left, the bill is ‘racist and xenophobic: they particularly object to the proposal to cut welfare benefits and expel more illegal immigrants; while the right – Marine Le Pen’s National Rally and the centre-right Republicans – considered it too liberal, specifically the clause that would regularise the status of illegal immigrants working in some job sectors. Le Pen told reporters she was ‘delighted’ with the outcome because it ‘protected the French from a migratory tidal wave’. 

Le Monde described the bill’s rejection as a ‘stunning setback for the government’, a description echoed in Le Figaro’s editorial this morning, which said it represents ‘the biggest setback suffered by Emmanuel Macron since his arrival at the Élysée’.