The main measures of the text voted in the joint committee.
● Social benefits and APL with variable geometry
This was the element that caused the joint committee (CMP) to sway on Monday evening. And the one who helped unravel it on Tuesday morning. It could also be the one that causes the adoption of the text to lose some precious votes. The restriction of social benefits to foreigners - and in particular personalised housing assistance - was one of the strong points of the senatorial text but a point of no return for the left wing of Renaissance.
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While the Senate's version limited their access to five years of "stable and regular" residence in France, against six months today, the CMP arrived at a compromise that marks the victory of the right: the APL could only be touched after five years on French territory by immigrants who do not work. On the other hand, they could be affected as early as three months for those in employment, compared to six months currently. Finally, it will only be possible to receive family allowances after five years for those who do not have a job, compared to 30 months for those who do.
● AME: Gérard Larcher demands a firm commitment from Élisabeth Borne for a specific law
State medical aid had two shortcomings: the risk of being kicked out of the Constitutional Council because it could appear as a legislative rider in a text on immigration, and the risk of turning a blind eye to the deputies of the majority. During the discussion before the Law Commission of the National Assembly, the latter had restored it in its entirety when the elected representatives of the Luxembourg Palace had replaced it with "emergency medical aid".
It was limited to "the management of prophylaxis and treatment of serious illnesses and acute pain, pregnancy-related care, regulatory vaccinations and preventive medicine examinations". As a good deminer but not without a grip, Gérard Larcher, the president of the Senate, has stepped up to the plate and obtained a letter from Élisabeth Borne in which she undertakes to return to it through a specific reform in the first quarter.
● Rejection of the regularization of clandestine work, the right wins the day
Article 3 of Gérald Darmanin's initial bill, which provided for the automatic regularization of illegal workers working in so-called shortage jobs, has been definitively done. It is indeed Article 4 bis, which came out of the Senate fully armed, that is required in the CMP version. It is the sole responsibility of the prefects, provided that the employers have requested it in writing and that the undocumented person can prove that he or she has "held a job in short supply for at least twelve months" instead of eight months in the initial text. However, everyone on the right is congratulating themselves for having tightened the system, in the majority, because according to them, it would be 10,000 more regularizations each year. At the same time, Article 4, which introduced immediate access to work for asylum seekers, was definitively deleted despite the tabling of the socialist amendment.
● Reinstatement of the offence of illegal residence and relaxation of the conditions for deportation
This was an old demand of the right and it imposed itself on the CMP in the senatorial version: from now on, it will not only be illegal to be irregular in France, it will be an offense punishable by one year in prison and a fine of 3750 euros. In addition, Éric Ciotti obtained from Gérald Darmanin the acceleration of the construction of detention centres, prior to deportations. Eleven new administrative detention centers (CRA) will open in France by 2027, promised the Minister of the Interior to the president of the LR.
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He also pledged to speed up the time it takes to build new places in detention centres. It must be said that the text validates the facilitation of the expulsion of adult foreign offenders who have been definitively convicted of crimes or misdemeanours punishable by 5 years or more of imprisonment. Immigrants who arrived in France as minors will be concerned. In addition, the new text specifies the conditions for deprivation of nationality for dual nationals convicted of intentional homicide.
● Restriction of the right of birth, quotas and family reunification
Access to French nationality will no longer be automatic. This questioning of the right of the soil is a very old demand of the right. At the helm, Éric Ciotti obtained "exemption from the application of the law of the soil for minors who have committed a crime". Moreover, since its passage in the Senate, the text introduces migration quotas, the Parliament determining for three years the number of foreigners authorized to settle in France for each of the categories of stay, with the exception of asylum. In addition, the student residence permit will be conditional on "the serious nature of the studies" and the payment of a deposit. Finally, restrictions on family reunification have been introduced.