France’s green MPs threaten to derail flagship immigration bill

MPs for France’s green party have vowed to scupper the government’s highly controversial immigration bill, which aims to introduce mandatory language tests and allow for more fast-track deportations.

French MPs are due to debate the contested legislation, known as the Darmanin law after the interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, on Monday, but the bill could be killed off even before the debate begins after the green party, Europe Écologie Les Verts, announced it would put forward a motion to reject the law before it was presented to the house.

The bill has sparked protests and heated political argument for more than a year. The government, which at one point deemed the legislation so risky it withdrew it, is threatening to force it through if no agreement can be reached.

In order for their motion to succeed, green MPs will need the support of polar opposites in the house including the Nupes (Nouvelle Union populaire écologique et sociale), a hard leftwing alliance, and Marine Le Pen’s far-right Rassemblement National (National Rally) – parties with conflicting aims to water down and toughen up the legislation.

Darmanin has said such a move would be “a denial of democracy”, French media reported. “It would be strange to be unable to debate a subject that matters so much to French people,” he was quoted as saying.

If the motion fails and the debate goes ahead as planned, Emmanuel Macron’s centrist government, which has no overall majority in the Assemblée Nationale, will need the support of at least one opposition party to push through the bill.

If support cannot be obtained, the prime minister, Elisabeth Borne, has the choice of withdrawing the bill before a final vote if the government is threatened with a humiliating defeat or use the contentious constitutional tool article 49:3 to push it through without a vote.

Borne has already withdrawn the bill once, in May, out of concerns it was too sensitive coming so soon after a long political and public battle over pension reforms.

The bill contains a raft of carrot-and-stick measures including mandatory language tests for foreigners applying for long-term residency, requiring them to prove they have “mastered a minimum level” of French. At present, passing a language test has been required only for those seeking citizenship.

The legislation would also allow for the easier expulsion of people who have settled in France but “do not respect the values of the republic”, including those convicted of certain crimes, and lowers the age at which foreigners could be expelled.

The Sénat, France’s upper house, which is controlled by the right, passed the bill last month after adding amendments that hardened several key elements of the legislation. These included scrapping state-funded healthcare for undocumented workers, limiting rights to citizenship and toughening rules for family members to settle in France. Senators also added an amendment exempting British second-home-owners from visa rules introduced after Brexit.

Most of these amendments – including the easing of rules for British second-home owners – were dropped by the national assembly committee before its presentation to the house on Monday.

Borne has said the bill is a “balanced text” with something for everyone. If the motion to reject the bill is defeated the legislation will be debated from this week until early January.