The new French immigration law, which provides for limits on the granting of social benefits to foreign citizens, is generating strong criticism from left-wing sectors. Some points of the new rule will not be applied by thirty departments or by the city of Paris, and one of the main unions, the National Labor Confederation (CGT), has called for mobilizations and “civil resistance” against the law. The return after the Christmas break can therefore be conflicting.
It was to be expected that such a controversial measure, approved in Parliament with the votes of the extreme right, would arouse opposition. Many believe that the fundamental values ??of the Republic are at stake. In France there is always the danger that the protest will degenerate into street riots. It already happened with the pension reform.
“The CGT calls for civil disobedience and the multiplication of actions of resistance against this law”, said the general secretary of the CGT, Sophie Binet, in a radio interview. According to the trade unionist leader, the new rule “deeply calls into question all our republican principles and extends the red carpet to the extreme right”. Binet proposed to launch large-scale initiatives in the coming weeks so that “those who do not recognize themselves in this Lepenized France [of Le Pen]” can express themselves and show “the determination to respect the values ??of solidarity”. The leader of the CGT aimed directly at President Emmanuel Macron, whom she accused of sinking into a “political and moral wreck”. Binet encouraged the rest of the unions to create a united front similar to the one that was there to challenge the pension reform in the first months of the year. That project ended up being approved by decree, given the impossibility of obtaining a majority in Parliament.
Another very strong trade union, the CFDT, warned of the danger of having introduced the principle of “national priority”, an attack against the republican principles of equality and solidarity. The CFDT regretted the fissures that have opened in the containment dyke that existed to deal with the extreme right.
On a territorial scale, the 32 departments – equivalent to the Spanish provinces -, including the municipality of Paris, have said that they do not plan to tighten the conditions for granting aid to foreigners over 60 who suffer loss of autonomy due to some health problem The new law conditions the aid to a presence of at least five years in national territory for those who do not work and 30 months for those who are active at work.
The mayor of Paris, the socialist Anne Hidalgo, wants the capital to be “a land of democratic and humanist resistance” against “populism”. “Here in Paris we will continue to live this humanistic, multicultural, unconditional welcome dimension, because it is in our DNA”, said Hidalgo.
Another benefit that the mayor wants to preserve in the city is comprehensive medical assistance for the undocumented. The Government succumbed to pressure from the right and the extreme right and agreed to soon present a legislative reform of the current system to make it more restrictive and include only urgent treatments.
The hangover from the passage of the law continues to provoke many comments about the weakening of Macron and how difficult the three and a half years he has left in the Elysée will be. “The king is naked”, the conservative Le Figaro wrote yesterday in its editorial, and wondered if he will be able to escape some form of cohabitation with the opposition, for example by appointing a right-wing prime minister. The liberal newspaper L’Opinion pointed to the contradictions and inconsistencies of the legislative initiative, including the fact that it was approved despite the fact that the Government itself knows that it contains unconstitutional provisions. L’Opinion also recalled the rebellion against the law by the left-wing departments. “How can we be surprised, under these conditions, by the weakening of the authority of public affairs?”, asked the editorialist.