France to adopt new immigration law 2025

The French authorities want to adopt a new immigration law next year, a spokeswoman said, as the new right-wing government seeks to crack down on immigration.

“There will be a need for a new law,” government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon told broadcaster BFMTV on Sunday.

The government’s plan to tighten immigration policies and border controls is emblematic of the rightward shift in French politics following this summer’s legislative elections that resulted in a hung parliament.

Michel Barnier’s government hopes the bill will be submitted to parliament at the beginning of 2025.

“We don’t rule out the possibility of considering other provisions”, said Bregeon, adding that there should be “no taboos when it comes to protecting the French.”

Last December, France already passed an immigration law.

The bill was hardened to gain the support of the far-right and right-wing MPs.

But the country’s highest constitutional authority censured most of the new amendments which were dropped before President Emmanuel Macron signed it into law.

The measures struck down by the Constitutional Council “will serve as a basis for the new immigration bill”, a government source told AFP. “Some of them could be modified and there will be additions.”

The most hardline member of the government, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, has vowed to crack down on immigration. He has stirred controversy just days into the job, saying that “the rule of law is neither intangible nor sacred”.

Retailleau, who previously headed the Republicans party in the Senate, was seen as the driving force behind the tough legislation last year.