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ELECTIONS

‘Double border’ and ‘national priority’: French immigration under far right

The far-right party of Marine Le Pen has vowed to promote a policy of "national priority" and drastically curb what it calls uncontrolled immigration in order to "preserve French civilisation."

'Double border' and 'national priority': French immigration under far right
A campaigner pastes an election poster of French far-right Rassemblement National (RN) candidate Sandrine Chadournec (C) in Libourne, southwestern France on July 2, 2024 (Photo by Philippe LOPEZ / AFP)

If it wins an absolute majority in the second round of snap elections on Sunday, the Rassemblement National (RN) party said it would adopt an “emergency” law on immigration, but the constitution and European treaties would have to be revised for the party’s programme to be implemented.

Here AFP looks at some of the most controversial proposals of the party which is currently the most popular in France.

‘National priority’

The Rassemblement National’s top political pillar is the principle of “national preference” — now called “national priority”. It would limit welfare benefits to only French nationals.

In April, France’s Constitutional Council rejected a request by the centre-right Republicans party to hold a referendum on immigration, which would include a proposal to make access to some welfare benefits conditional on the length of residence in the country.

Disadvantaged people should not be deprived of France’s “policy of national solidarity,” said Laurent Fabius, the Socialist head of the Council. The principle of national preference was contrary to the constitution, he said.

READ MORE: What is ‘national preference’ for the French and how would it hurt foreigners?

‘Double border’

RN party leader Jordan Bardella, who will become prime minister at the age of 28 if it wins an absolute majority, has proposed the introduction of a “double border”.

The measure would tighten controls at the European Union’s external borders and impose the return of national border controls to reserve free movement within the Schengen zone to “European nationals only”, says the RN.

Yves Pascouau, a senior research associate at the Institut Jacques Delors, said that Europeans cannot be banned from entering France.

“The Schengen agreements establish freedom of movement,” he said, adding that calling a referendum or revising the constitution would not help.

“This goes beyond French matters — it’s the Schengen agreements that apply,” he said.

State medical aid

Under the RN, the AME, which guarantees free medical care to undocumented migrants who have resided in France for more than three months, would be replaced with a fund covering only life-threatening emergencies.

The 1946 constitution states that France will ensure to the individual and to the family the conditions necessary for their development and that it guarantees the protection of health for “all.”

“To completely restrict this state medical aid, or to abolish it with all the dangers for public health that this could create, is to ignore the constitutional imperative,” said Anne-Charlene Bezzina, an expert in public law.

Birthright principle

The RN wants to abolish France’s centuries-old principle of “droit du sol”, which grants French nationality to people born in France to foreign parents on certain conditions.

The far-right party says that only people born to at least one French parent should have automatic access to French nationality.

Others can make a request to obtain citizenship.

France has recently moved to revoke birthright citizenship in the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte to stem migration.

Bezzina suggested that the restriction of “droit du sol” across France would not pass unless the constitution was revised.

“The acquisition of nationality is enshrined in an 1889 decree, and has been continuously applied,” she said.

Dual nationals

Ahead of the first round of parliamentary elections, Bardella sparked an outcry by saying his party wanted to ban dual nationals from holding jobs in a number of sensitive sectors such as security and defence. He said “very few people” would be affected.

Macron’s government has slammed the proposal, which violates the principle of equality.

READ MORE: EXPLAINED: The French far-right’s proposal to ban dual nationals from certain jobs

“The message that you send is dual nationals are half-nationals,” Prime Minister Gabriel Attal told Bardella in a tense debate in June.

The proposal opens up the possibility of “recourse before the European Court of Human Rights or the Council of State”, said Serge Slama, an expert in public law.

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ELECTIONS

France holds its breath ahead of uncertain vote

France's tense election campaign was on hold Saturday on the eve of the final vote, but thoughts were turning to an uncertain future before polling even opens.

France holds its breath ahead of uncertain vote

The traditional final day pause ahead of Sunday’s second round runoff will do nothing to soothe fears of stalemate and stagnation in France, a world power and pillar of the EU.

Final opinion polls Friday suggested that far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) would fall short of winning an outright majority in the National Assembly.

But President Emmanuel Macron’s gamble in calling snap elections to force a choice between his centrist path and the extremes of left and right has not paid off.

He now faces the final three years of his presidency with no clear ruling majority, and Prime Minister Gabriel Attal perhaps trying to hold together a caretaker government.

According to pollsters Ipsos and Ifop, anti-immigrant, eurosceptic RN could secure 170 to 210 seats in the National Assembly — well short of 289, an absolute majority.

The Ipsos Talan poll for Le Monde, Radio France and France Televisions has the RN coming in just ahead of left-wing alliance the New Popular Front, on between 145 and 175 seats.

READ ALSO: How to follow all the latest French election news in English on Sunday

Outright win?

Both the far-right and left-wing groups come in well ahead of an estimated 118 to 148 for Macron’s centrist allies, who held 250 seats in the outgoing parliament.

French voters could therefore go to bed on Sunday night with no idea who might be able to form and lead a government, or whether a weakened Attal will shoulder on.

Le Pen insists that she is still on course for victory and an absolute majority that would force Macron to appoint her 28-year-old lieutenant Jordan Bardella prime minister.

“Either the RN wins an absolute majority and I can, from Sunday, embark on my project to rebuild … or the country is blocked,” Bardella warned on Thursday.

READ ALSO: Why you should care about French election results even if you’re not in France

Attal, for his part, has vowed to stay on “as long as necessary” in a caretaker role, while Macron’s office is studying options to maintain some form of government.

Macron is to remain in office until presidential and legislative elections in April 2027, but he must now face the possibility of sharing power with political foes.

The prospect of France forming its first far-right government since World War II has dismayed its European allies, already perplexed by Macron’s wild gamble on a snap poll.

And even if the RN falls short, as polling firms now predict, France will be heading into unknown political waters as Paris prepares to host the Olympic Games.

In an effort to halt the far-right rise seen in the first round of voting on June 30, centrists and left-wing parties have formed second round polling pacts.

Le Pen has denounced the move as a bid to steal victory “against the will of the people” by creating what she calls a “single party” to protect the political class.

But it is far from certain how many voters who saw their preferred candidates drop out to give another a clear run against the RN will bother to turn out on Sunday.

READ ALSO: What a Le Pennist PM could mean for foreigners in France

Fears of violence

Janine Mossuz-Lavau, emeritus director at the Cevipof institute, told AFP: “With the withdrawals, the person for whom voters were intending to vote has fallen by the wayside.

“Some are going to say to themselves: ‘No, in these conditions, it’s not possible’.”

With so much of the outcome uncertain, tensions are rising.

More than 50 candidates and campaign activists have been physically assaulted during the four-week campaign, the shortest in modern French history.

About 30,000 police will be deployed this weekend to head off trouble.

French stocks held steady Friday with investors expecting the far right to fail to win an absolute majority.

But analysts predict a turbulence if the RN tries to implement its costly economic programme, which includes reversing Macron’s hard-won pension reforms.

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