France’s Lower House rejected Emmanuel Macron’s immigration bill on Monday with 270 votes against and 265 in favor, reported multiple international news outlets.
Nine majority deputies abstained from the vote, which abruptly ended any substantive debate on this topic for now in the Assembly.
The motion–tabled by the left-wing, environment-centered-platform political party, the “Greens,”– was supported by the socialists, far-right Rassemblement National (RN), and the conservative Les Républicains (LR) groups.
The tabling of this motion means that the bill did not even reach the level of floor debate at the Assembly.
However, the government can still choose to let the bill continue its natural legislative path in the Senate, convene a joint committee, or abandon it altogether.
The bill includes several measures that restrict the rights of migrants, such as more stringent prerequisites for family reunification and student migration, as well as for the exclusion of undocumented individuals from the right to emergency accommodation.
The LR senators, who hold the majority in the Senate, increased the number of articles in the bill from 27 to approximately 100, making it more repressive. The government could also decide to withdraw the bill, for which NGOs and organizations that protect foreigners in France have advocated. However, some politicians have called for a parliamentary debate to continue.
As an aftershock, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin tendered his resignation to Emmanuel Macron on Monday–who subsequently refused it–and was ordered to find new means to break the deadlock and push the legislation through. “It’s a failure,” acknowledged the minister on TF1, while condemning the “alliance of opposites” which led to this result.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, on the other hand, accused the opposition of “refusing debate.” She asked to hold an emergency meeting involving several ministers and lawmakers on Monday evening.
“We will see what we decide,” said Darmanin, specifying that the President had requested that a “follow-up for this bill” be presented to him as early as Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the three parties Renaissance, MoDem, and Horizons called on Monday for the retention of the immigration bill while continuing the legislative process “…as quickly as possible.”
In the Assembly, the Left and the RN stood and applauded the adoption of the rejection motion, with left-wing deputies calling for the minister’s resignation.
In a statement, the Greens urged the government to accept the consequences of its defeat by irrevocably withdrawing the bill.