France: Conseil backs government
01 September 1993
The Conseil d'Etat (State Council) in Paris has ruled that the French constitution must be changed in order for the French government to be able to ratify the Schengen Accord. The ruling also overturns a previous decision by the lower Constitutional Council which stated that eight of the clauses in Interior Minister Charles Pasqua's new law against immigration were unconstitutional. The clauses chiefly referred to the right of asylum, and also to family reunion.
The original ruling was greeted with sighs of relief by many French, who were alarmed at the hard-right plan to introduce zero immigration into a country where a third of the citizens are immigrants or have a parent or grandparent of immigrant origin. However, the Constitutional Council's decision angered Pasqua who stated that it "blocked the government from applying its policies."
For several days it was unclear whether Prime Minister Edouard Balladur would agree to the necessary changes set out by the Constitutional Court. But early in September, a top level meeting had been held between President Mitterand and Balladur to discuss the impasse. The President agreed, as part of his pro-Europe policy, that the constitution would have to be changed. Mitterand's decision negated the need for a referendum to be held on the question. The matter then passed to the Conseil d'Etat for final approval.
The Constitutional Council's original ruling held that immigrants could not lose their right to remain in France while their case was examined, even if that request for entry was incompatible with another state's laws according to the Schengen Accords. This affected asylum seekers who had already had their applications examined in another country and those arriving for family reunion as recognised under international law. The Constitutional Council had referred to the clause in the 1946 constitution that guaranteed the right to asylum.
Balladur asked the Conseil d'Etat to intervene and make a final ruling, so that the decision could be seen to have been arrived at independently, and not by politicians bargaining with each other. The Conseil d'Etat is the supreme juridical body for both administrative and legislative matters. The ruling means that the necessary changes will now be made by simple majority in the Assemblee Nationale, the elected chamber. As the government commands a large majority in the parliament, this will only be a formality.
When the changes to the constitution have been adopted, France will be able to fully adopt the Schengen Accord and apply it in line with the other signatory countries. It also means that immigration into France, for whatever reason, will become almost impossible - the idea behind Pasqua's call for "zero immigration". Pasqua is now reported to be planning new legislation on asylum rights which will match the constitutional changes.
Reflex, Paris.s