France is again debating whether to grant non-EU foreigners voting rights, like some EU member countries already do, though some in the majority camp of French President Emmanuel Macron and the right-wing opposition oppose the idea.
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The debate over granting foreigners voting rights is back on the menu.
Renaissance Deputy Sacha Houlié tabled a constitutional bill at the start of August that aims to extend “the right to vote and stand for election in municipal elections to foreigners” from outside the EU.
The debate was already launched by former president Francois Hollande, who in 2012 pledged to grant non-EU nationals the right to vote in local elections as one of his campaign promises.
An integration tool
Houlié, the co-founder of the Youth with Macron association and a former socialist activist who currently represents the left side of the presidential majority, hopes that his bill will take up a “beautiful and long fight” that would promote the integration of foreigners at the local level.
“It is a question of allowing these women and men who, without denying their heritage, wish to become full-fledged members of our political community, to define their representation and express their aspirations,” reads the explanatory memorandum of the proposal – of which he is the sole signatory.
It is also a way of removing discrimination between EU and non-EU foreigners, he said, calling it “an outdated distinction”.
The lawmaker also refers to the other bloc countries that have opened the right to vote to third-country nationals.
Belgium, Denmark and Sweden, for example, recognise the right to vote for third-country nationals if they have resided in the country for several years. Countries like Portugal and Spain recognise the right to vote for third-country nationals whose countries do the same.
France, Germany and Italy, among others, do not grant third-country nationals the right to vote.
In France, the only high-profile supporter of the bill is Dijon Mayor François Rebsamen – a socialist who backed Macron during April’s presidential election
On Thursday (18 August), he said that the majority of French people are in favour, especially among young people (75%). He also sees it as a way to fight against communitarianism.
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Opposition, even within the majority
The bill was strongly rejected by Les Républicains, the right-wing party currently in opposition.
The proposal is “a mistake and a provocation”, said party leader Éric Ciotti, who called on Macron and Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne to “clarify” their positions on the subject.
“The right to vote is not an accessory that is handed out,” said another Les Républicains deputy, Aurélien Pradié.
Backing for the bill is not even unanimous among fellow members of Macron’s majority or his government.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin is “firmly opposed” to extending the right to vote to non-Europeans, his entourage said, reports AFP.
Others like Sylvain Maillard, MP for Paris and vice-chairman of the Renaissance group in the Assembly, who, like Darmanin, is linked to the right side of the majority, said there was “no taboo”. But the bill “makes the system turbulent for nothing” and that had “not been discussed” within the group, he said on Wednesday.
No majority MPs have so far shown backing for the bill and Houlié said he tabled it “in a personal capacity”.
Backing from the Left
On the Left, granting voting rights to non-EU citizens has been a long-standing fight.
It was mentioned in former socialist President François Mitterrand’s programme in 1981 and recently backed by elected members of NUPES, the left-wing coalition recently formed by La France Insoumise leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
Sandrine Rousseau, a Green MP whose party has joined NUPES, for example, has promised Houlié she would be on “his side”.
Also backing Houlié is EU lawmaker Manon Aubry of La France Insoumise, though she doubts the bill “will go all the way” in the legislative process.
Little hope
The likelihood the bill is even adopted remains extremely slim.
Not only is it unlikely to be put on the agenda, but it also needs to be adopted by both houses of parliament.
The bill will likely be rejected in the upper house, which has a right-wing majority.
Seeing that this bill has a low chance of success, it appears it is more of an attempt at showing that the left-wing side of the majority is still alive and kicking, particularly as most recent government bills have found support on the right.
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[Edited by Nathalie Weatherald]
Source: euractiv.com
