French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has outlined the government’s priorities for the next 100 days, but the controversial immigration bill has been pushed back to the autumn.
In a televised address on 17 April, President Emmanuel Macron spoke of the need for 100 days of appeasement and action in the wake of the law on pension reform which sparked months of sometimes violent protests.
He then left it up to his prime minister to get down to work and put meat on the bones.
“I only believe in results,” PM Borne said on Wednesday. “We have to get them in every field and I hope they will be concrete, tangible and visible for the French people.”
The government plan of action includes measures and announcements in four areas: purchasing power, ecological transition, public services, and justice.
Purchasing power
Parliament is to debate a bill on distributing wealth more fairly and Borne has asked companies to reevaluate pay scales.
A new pact will examine life at work, notably to improve the employment of seniors.
Parliament is to debate a draft bill this summer on speeding up the decarbonised reindustrialisation of France.
Ecological transition
The bill on forest fire prevention, already adopted in the Senate, will be discussed in the lower chamber from mid-May.
The government will make clean vehicle rental more affordable from this autumn, and an action plan on tackling the aviation industry’s greenhouse gas emissions will be presented in June at the Paris Air Show.
French homeowners will get personalised support for thermal renovation of buildings.
Public services
Parliament will debate a bill in June on tackling so-called "medical deserts" – aimed at guaranteeing access to care for everyone wherever they live; 6,000 extra medical assistants will be recruited by the end of 2024.
People with chronic illnesses and who are not registered with a GP will have access to one by the end of the year.
Short-term teacher replacements will be carried out within the schools themselves; children struggling in French or maths to be given extra help.
Justice and republican order
Some 150 additional police officers and gendarmes will be deployed in the Alpes-Maritimes region next week to deal with “increased migratory pressure” and an experimental force on the French-Italian border will be launched by the summer.
A bill on digital pornography will be presented in early May, including measures against cyber-bullying and exposing children to pornographic content.
Ten thousand magistrates and clerks are to be recruited to reduce delays in the justice system, and an anti-fraud plan will be presented in May to improve controls and fight tax evasion.
Immigration bill pushed back
However, the immigration bill that the government had planned to present to both chambers this spring, was pushed back to the autumn.
Elisabeth Borne said there wasn't enough support in parliament to get it adopted at this stage.
This comes after the government, which does not have an absolute majority in parliament, used special constitutional powers to get the unpopular pension law passed without a final vote, after months of street protests.
"Now is not the time to start a debate over a bill that could divide the French," Borne told Wednesday's news conference.
The immigration bill aims to speed up the expulsion of illegal migrants while making it easier to obtain residency permits for those who work in sectors struggling to find workers.
Borne said she had failed to reach a deal so far with the conservative Republicans (LR) party on the bill, and would keep working on getting support for the bill from other groups.
