Macron facing party rebellion over French immigration bill

PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron was facing a major rebellion within his own party from left-leaning deputies on Tuesday after a toughened-up immigration bill won the support of the far right under Marine Le Pen.

Macron swept to power in 2017 heading a broad centrist movement that rallied together the left and the right, but that fragile unity now risks cracking over the immigration bill.

The government regards the legislation -- which generally tightens immigration rules -- as crucial to seizing the initiative on the issue of immigration from the far right. But various amendments have seen the measures further tightened from when the bill was originally submitted, with the left accusing the government of caving into pressure from the far right.

Le Pen endorsed the new-look bill but key left-leaning members of Macron´s Renaissance Party and allied factions indicated they could no longer support it, with several ministers reportedly threatening to resign.

“We can rejoice in ideological progress, an ideological victory even for the National Rally (RN), since this is now enshrined into law as a national priority,” said Le Pen, a three-time presidential candidate who now leads the RN´s lawmakers in parliament and is widely expected to stand again for president in 2027.

The RN had previously said it would vote against the bill or abstain. Her announcement came after a commission of upper-house senators and lower-house National Assembly MPs agreed a new draft of the bill, which had been voted down without being debated in the National Assembly last week in a major blow to Macron.

The legislation is now to be put to successive votes on Tuesday evening in the Senate and then the National Assembly.