(Paris) Favorite data of the anticipated legislative elections in France, the far right promises an “emergency” law to restrict immigration despite the risks of constitutional censorship and an Italian scenario, where this same commitment of the post-fascist leader Giorgia Meloni had little effect.
In the event of a victory for his camp on June 30 and July 7, the president of the National Rally (RN, far right) Jordan Bardella assures that his government would act “from the first weeks” to limit the rights of foreigners, a central demand of his party and its ancestor, the National Front, which advocated “national preference” and wanted to “return France to the French”.
According to Mr Bardella’s entourage, a government led by the RN could present a bill this summer to remove “the administrative constraints that prevent the expulsion of foreigners” and drastically reduce State Medical Aid, which allows undocumented foreigners to have access to care.
Under the terms of the bill, this system would now be reserved only for cases where the prognosis is life-threatening.
The text would above all contain the “removal” of the right of soil, which currently allows a young person born in France of foreign parents to access French nationality upon reaching the age of majority, in particular on the condition that he resides in the country at the age of 18. years.
In parallel with the text, a government circular would ask “prefects to put an end to all regularizations” of undocumented immigrants, says Renaud Labaye, secretary general of the RN group in the National Assembly.
This legislative agenda could, however, come up against the Constitutional Council, an independent body which verifies the conformity of laws with the French Constitution and its preamble, the founding text of fundamental freedoms in the country.
In view of the ancient “history” of land law in France, a country of immigration, constitutional judges could thus consider it as one of the “fundamental principles recognized by the laws of the Republic” and censor its questioning widespread, underlines constitutionalist Anne-Charlène Bezzina.
In 2018, during the first term of President Emmanuel Macron, the Constitutional Council had certainly validated a restriction of land rights in Mayotte, but by highlighting the specific situation of this French archipelago in the Indian Ocean, subject to strong migratory pressure in from the Comoros.
Regarding State Medical Aid, too drastic a reduction could contravene the preamble to the Constitution which stipulates that the “Nation ensures the individual and the family the conditions necessary for their development”, believes Ms. Bezzina.
In the longer term, the far right wants to organize a “referendum” on immigration in order to establish a “national priority” in access to certain benefits.
But the RN, if it obtains a majority in the National Assembly, will have to govern with the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron, whose referendum is an almost exclusive prerogative in France.
“The French are […] completely aware that we cannot do it right away” and “will know who to vote for in the presidential election” of 2027, we say to the RN.
The opponents of the RN, however, emphasize the case of Italy where the far-right leader Giorgia Meloni was elected in 2022 by promising a drastic reduction in immigration which she has, for the moment, failed to obtain.
In 2023, some 158,000 migrants landed in Italy compared to around 105,000 in 2022.
“It’s clear that we hoped for better in terms of immigration when we have worked so hard,” admitted Ms. Meloni at the end of September.
In the summer of 2023, his government also validated by decree the entry into Italy of 452,000 foreign workers for the period 2023-2025.
“The situation in France and Italy is very different. Meloni was much more dependent on the European Union for his recovery plan,” they retort at the RN.
But elsewhere in Europe, other right-wing or far-right parties have also been forced to adapt their positions on immigration, faced with a lack of labor and declining demographics.
In Hungary, despite the anti-migrant rhetoric of its Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the number of non-EU workers increased from 35,000 at the start of 2019 to more than 73,000 at the end of 2023.