Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told reporters that the ‘strong text’ had been approved by a sufficient majority of 349 in favour and 186 against, and that the far-right votes were not needed for it to pass. The upper house of parliament, the Senate, had also passed the bill earlier in the day.
Darmanin, who championed the bill, praised “an important text that will protect the French” but also allow 7,000 to 10,000 undocumented migrant workers a year to obtain residence permits and fill jobs in sectors that have difficulty recruiting.
“We will finally be able to expel foreign criminals from our territory, but also to integrate all those who work in our restaurants and in the agricultural sector,” Darmanin said.
Conservative lawmaker Eric Ciotti, president of the Republicans party, said the compromise text included provisions to reduce the number of migrants coming to France, notably by limiting foreigners’ access to social benefits.
Macron’s centrist government doesn’t have a majority in parliament, and opposition lawmakers rejected the bill last week without debating it in the lower house, the National Assembly. The government, in turn, sought a compromise with Republican lawmakers who pushed for a hardline approach.
Many saw the negotiations as a sign of the Macron government’s shift to the right.
A commission of seven senators and seven deputies from the National Assembly formally approved the revised legislation. It must be approved by both houses of parliament, and a vote was scheduled for late Tuesday.
Far-right lawmaker Marine Le Pen said her National Rally party would vote in favour of the bill. She described the legislation as an “ideological victory” because it includes measures her party has championed. It’s a “very small step, much remains to be done”, Le Pen added.
Advocacy groups have criticised the bill as a threat to migrants’ rights.
Amnesty International France said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that “all the conditions are in place for a law that is more damaging than ever to the rights of people in exile”.
A statement signed by more than 40 French migrant rights groups urged lawmakers to reject the bill, which they said “disregards fundamental rights”.