“Immigration” law: Left-wing departments revolt against restrictions on access to social benefits

Lot opened the sling. “It was a heartfelt cry this morning…”, confides Serge Rigal, president of various left-wing departmental councils of Lot. Angered by the passage of the “immigration” bill on Tuesday, December 19, he announced Wednesday morning that he had withdrawn. “Use of national advantage”.

Article 19 of the voting text stipulates that in order to benefit from the personalized autonomy allowance (APA) paid by the departments, a foreigner must now prove at least five years of residence or two and a half years of contributions. However, Mr. Rigal refuses to distinguish between the French and others. “This helphe justifies Given to dependent people who are at home and cannot feed themselves, get up or wash themselves unless we are there to help them. »

Thirty-two leftist departments in turn issued a joint press release Wednesday afternoon to denounce the newly voted text as “It is a shame for our human rights-defending country. » they refuse “The application of an APA-inspired aspect of this law, inspired by the far right, carried out by an executive branch that claimed to embody moderation and which is now nothing more than an illustration of compromise.”.

The president of Saint-Saint-Denis, Stéphane Trussel (Socialist Party), wrote to his society’s agents on Wednesday morning to say that the benefits would be paid. “under the same conditions as today, to all the inhabitants of Seine-Saint-Denis, regardless of their origin or nationality”.

Mr. Trussell condemns the law “Which demarcates the legal boundary between the French and foreigners in a legal situation that goes back to the law of the soil and that ultimately goes back to what the Republic has always been for more than two centuries. » In Loire-Atlantique, Michel Ménard, also a Socialist, is on the same line. And hope for that “The Constitutional Council will cancel the most evil provisions” of the law.

“Paris will not use national advantage”

After that, the Socialist mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, told Agence France-Presse on Wednesday that her city, as well as the department, was joining the rebels. “We will use the rights and constitutional principles of our country. The City of Paris will not use the national preference for our seniors regarding the APA.He said in judgment of the law “disgraceful”.

Others are not on the same wavelength. The head of the Eure department, Alexandre Rassaert, right, and close to the Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornus, welcomed the adoption of the X law. “This strengthening of the migration policy is in line with France’s will and national interests”, he wrote on Twitter. For his part, François Durovay, president of Les Républicains de l’Essonne, recalls that “We are in a state of law and [qu’]The department is not an autonomous republic. Whatever he thinks, the law is the law. It should be used. “