After the triumphant adoption of the motion to reject the government’s immigration bill, France’s opposition parties aim to capitalise on this thunderous victory, which has seriously weakened the government. Marion Maréchal, head of the Reconquête party’s list for the European elections, is proposing a shared-initiative referendum so that the united Right can impose its own terms of the debate.
In an interview for the magazine L’Incorrect on December 11th, Marion Maréchal suggests using a Shared Initiative Referendum (Référendum d’Initiative Partagée, or RIP). This institutional mechanism allows citizens to submit a subject of their choice to a referendum, provided that they manage to secure the support of one-fifth of members of parliament in the first instance, and one-tenth of voters in the second. The support of 185 members of parliament, senators and deputies—totalling 925 politicians since 2015—is needed to present such a proposal. One-tenth of the electorate represents a critical mass of just over 4.8 million voters. These thresholds are very high, which makes it difficult to use this mechanism. Since no initiative has ever reached the second threshold, no referendum has ever been organised in France using this method.
Marion Maréchal herself described it a few years ago as a “gas factory”—usine à gaz, a French expression describing a device too complex to be used. Today, she believes that this RIP is the sole lever capable of achieving an acceptable result on immigration, since the government appears incapable of realising a law that truly responds to this issue and its urgency. The idea was first proposed at the beginning of November, but the rejection of the motion has given it a new lease on life.
For the referendum to have any chance of succeeding, unity of the right is more essential than ever. “I proposed to Jordan Bardella, Éric Ciotti and Nicolas Dupont-Aignan that we join forces, while remaining autonomous and independent in the means we use to collect the votes,” explained Marion Maréchal in her interview with L’Incorrect. The tool for achieving this would be a “national committee for a referendum on immigration.”
By reaching out to the presidents of the main right-wing parties—Rassemblement National, Les Républicains and Debout La France—Reconquête, through Maréchal, intends to demonstrate its ability to take the initiative and bring people together. In short, to play the role of platform for the union of the Rights that Éric Zemmour has sought to embody since the launch of his party two years ago. For the time being, the right-wing figures approached by Marion Maréchal have not followed up her proposal.