Paris [France], December 21: French President Emmanuel Macron defended a bill to toughen immigration laws despite an embarrassing parliamentary vote that put his ruling alliance on the same side as Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement national party.
The legislation, approved by both houses late on Tuesday, was initially good news for the centrist president, who made the migration bill a key plank of his second mandate and might otherwise have had to shelve it.
But the support of Le Pen's opposition party for the bill surprised Macron, prompting him on Wednesday to accuse Le Pen of political opportunism and to add in a television interview: "That was a shoddy move."
Just six months before European Parliament elections in which immigration will be key, the bill's adoption could boost Marine Le Pen who called the rejigged bill "a great ideological victory" for her far-right party.
An Elabe poll for BFM TV showed 70% of the French backed the new bill, including 87% of Macron's supporters.
But in a sign Le Pen had won the battle of narratives in public opinion, the same poll showed 73% thought her party's ideas had inspired the bill.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Cooperation