France’s interior minister ‘regrets’ that immigration referendum is not possible
Bruno Retailleau’s comments to French media were described as ‘divisive’ by both opponents and allies of President Macron
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau’s appointment is widely seen as a gesture to appease the far right
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France's new interior minister has been criticised for saying that it is 'regrettable' a referendum on immigration is not possible under the French constitution.
The right-wing minister made the comments in an interview with Le Journal du Dimanche on September 28. Political opponents have called his language “divisive”.
In the interview, Mr Retailleau said that his mandate as interior minister would be coloured by the murder of the French student Philippine by a Moroccan immigrant known as Taha O., who is currently awaiting extradition from Switzerland.
Taha O. was a registered sex offender and subject to an order to leave France (obligation de quitter le territoire français, OQTF) at the time of the murder.
“The tables must be turned over in memory of Philippine,” Mr Retailleau told Le Journal du Dimanche, adding that the news cycle “has become a banal chronicle of abominable events,” of which “the media only report the smallest part”.
He added that “a multicultural society runs the risk of becoming a 'multiracist' society,” in a subsequent interview with news channel LCI, saying that he would support a public referendum on the subject of immigration.
“Immigration is one of the phenomena that has had the greatest impact on French society over the last 50 years, without the French ever having had the opportunity to express their views,” he said, stressing that “like millions of French people, I believe that immigration is not an opportunity”.
Since such a referendum is a constitutional “impossibility” - a fact that he deemed “regrettable” - he argued in favour of revising France’s constitution.
“The rule of law is neither intangible nor sacred,” he said “It is a set of rules, a hierarchy of norms, judicial control and a separation of powers. But the source of the rule of law is democracy, the sovereign people.”
Mr Retailleau's appointment as interior minister is widely seen as a gesture to appease the far right.
He has previously voted against same-sex marriage and the inclusion of abortion in the French constitution and recently advocated reforming the aide médicale d'etat (AME), health cover for immigrants.
Immigration referendum ‘unconstitutional’
Mr Retailleau's comments on the 'impossibility' of a referendum follow a ruling by France’s Conseil constitutionnel, the body that judges constitutional matters, in April 2024.
The body ruled that such a referendum represented “disproportionate infringement” on rights of legally resident foreigners and could not take place in the framework of France’s current constitution.
Mr Retailleau had supported this request for an as a member of the right-wing Les Républicains party, along with his former political ally and party leader Eric Ciotti.
Mr Ciotti went on to side with the far-right Rassemblement National in France’s parliamentary elections.
‘Divisive language’
Former Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne was among the first to react to Mr Retailleau’s comments, calling them “divisive”.
“The Interior Minister is in a position of responsibility and the rule of law is sacred,” she told RMC. “When you are in such a position you must employ calming rather than divisive language”.
Macronist MP Yaël Braun-Pivet also judged the minister’s comments to be “quite worrying”.
“The rule of law is what protects our citizens, it is the equality of all before the law, it is the hierarchy of norms,” she told France 2. “When the situation is tense, we must not call into question the rule of law, which is what protects our democracy.”
