- Title: French MPs open controversial immigration debate
- Date: 7th October 2019
- Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (OCTOBER 7, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF EXTERIOR OF FRENCH NATIONAL ASSEMBLY BUILDING
- Embargoed: 21st October 2019 18:01
- Keywords: migration assimiliation communities war refugees
- Location: PARIS, FRANCE
- City: PARIS, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001B03M3WN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CAN BE USED IN CONJUNCTION WITH EDIT 1143-FRANCE-MIGRATION/LE PEN , WHICH CONTAINS COMMENTS ON MIGRATION BY FRENCH RIGHT WING LEADER MARINE LE PEN AND FILE IMAGES OF MIGRANTS
The French National Assembly opened a controversial debate on immigration Monday (October 7), part of an effort by the government to heed voters' concerns about immigration that are being seized upon by far-right political rivals.
The government, closely allied to centrist President Emmanuel Macron, is walking a political tightrope under pressure from its own supporters who are opposed to any measures they view as pandering to the far-right.
Setting out the government's position in a parliamentary hearing on immigration, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said that France's asylum system is "saturated", and that is it as if the country was experiencing the 2015-16 migrant crisis late.
Speaking outside the assembly hall, Eric Coquerel, an MP from far-left party France Insoumise, said that migration was not the most pressing issue France is facing: "it's a very bad course of action to consider that the central problem in France today would be some tens of thousands of people who arrive per year -- more than unemployment, inequality, and lack of public services."
France last year recorded 123,000 asylum requests, an increase of 22% on the previous year.
Macron's government, while trying to navigate a middle course on immigration, has come under fire from both right and left.
(Production: Kathryn Carlson, Thierry Chiarello) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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