The immigration law is "the result of a compromise" and it is "a shield that we lacked". This is the argument of Emmanuel Macron, guest Wednesday of the program "C à vous" on France 5. "We have to take responsibility for what has been done, we have to clear up a lot of untruths, we also have to calm people's minds," the President of the Republic pleaded, criticizing "a bath boy manoeuvre" by the National Rally.
In this way, he provided a perilous after-sales service. Probably not so much among public opinion - in favour of tougher immigration policy in poll after poll - than among some of his troops close to the left. They woke up on Wednesday with a "hangover", as Renaissance MP Sacha Houlié, one of the 62 Macronist MPs who did not vote for the text on Tuesday - one in four - put it. The President of the Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, herself said she remained "very perplexed" by this bill, which is right-wing by an agreement between the majority and the European Parliament.
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