Setback for Macron in France: the Constitutional Court cancels a significant part of his immigration reform

The French Constitutional Council censured this Thursday in whole or in part, more than a third of the 86 articles of the new immigration law voted by Parliament last month.

The so-called “nine wise men”, the highest arbitration body, thus overturned the majority the harshest measures against immigrants and asylum seekers which had been introduced by the right into Parliament and applauded by the far right.

Among the points censored is differential treatment -and discriminatory- towards immigrants to receive social benefitsrestrictions on family reunification and the setting of a deposit for non-EU students to guarantee such reunification They return to their country after finishing their training. Nor does it have the establishment of immigration quotas.

Measures not feasible according to the Constitution

The ruling of the Constitutional Council means a serious institutional slap to politiciansboth to President Emmanuel Macron and to the government and the opposition, for having recently built in a chaotic waya consensus on a proposal that was not practicable under the current Magna Carta.

The most serious thing is that Macron himself and his government were aware that yesand voted for a text that contained unconstitutional provisions. They admitted it publicly. In short, El Constitucional reveals significant political messes that could weigh on the European elections in June.

Of the 86 articles of the law, 32 fail the exam because it is believed that they include aspects that have been included in the text but which do not have a sufficient relationship with the matter that it was intended to legislate, which veven beyond the immigration issue covered by the law. Three are reported for not respecting the Constitution. Two others are rejected due to lack of form.

The Government tried to make a good impression on the bad weather, underlining many aspects of the Government’s original text Have remainedsuch as the device to regularize working irregular immigrants in sectors with labor shortagessomething that the right resisted and ended up accepting, albeit with many restrictions.

The president of the National Rally (RN, far right) and candidate in the European elections, Jordan Bardella, believed that what happened was “a coup of force by the judgeswith the support of the President of the Republic himself”, and regretted that “the firm measures” had been censored. “The law on immigration was stillborn”, concluded Bardella on the X network (formerly Twitter).