FRANCE, Dec 20: The French government is in turmoil as Health Minister Aurélien Rousseau tenders his resignation in protest against a stringent immigration bill, plunging Emmanuel Macron's centrist party into internal strife. The bill, initially designed to showcase Macron's firm stance on migration while remaining open to foreign workers, has faced backlash from within his own party, with far-right leader Marine Le Pen hailing it as an "ideological victory" for her anti-immigration platform.

Rousseau's swift resignation in objection to the bill's hardline measures has left Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne contemplating whether to accept it, with uncertainty looming over the potential departure of other ministers. Originally intended as a response to the rise of Le Pen's far-right National Rally, the bill took a more conservative turn after a parliamentary committee hastily drafted a compromise text in the face of opposition parties refusing to debate it.

The revised bill, supported by a portion of Macron's centrist Renaissance party and the right's Les Républicains, introduced stricter provisions such as reduced access to welfare benefits for foreigners, stringent rules for foreign students, migration quotas, and conditions on acquiring French citizenship for the children of non-nationals born in France. The bill also stipulated that dual nationals convicted of serious crimes against the police could lose French citizenship.

Despite the government's claim that the bill contained liberal measures, such as regularizing undocumented workers in sectors facing labor shortages, critics argued that it marked a regressive step for the rights and living conditions of foreigners in France. Approximately 50 groups, including the French Human Rights League, denounced it as the most regressive bill in the past 40 years.

Opposition politicians on the left accused Macron of betraying voters who had supported him in 2022 as a means to prevent far-right ideas, asserting that the bill incorporated the very ideas he had pledged to counter. Green MP Cyrielle Chatelain expressed a sense of "shame and betrayal" in parliament, highlighting the disappointment in Macron adopting far-right concepts through this legislation.