France: Tighter asylum laws pass crucial vote in face of criticism

Among the provisions of the bill are stricter deadlines for asylum application, a longer detention period for undocumented migrants, and a new criminal offence of entering France illegally with a prison sentence of up to one year.

After entering France, asylum applicants will have to file their application within 90 days instead of 120 days as present. Applications filed after that deadline would be considered under an “accelerated procedure” which critics say has fewer procedural guarantees.

The bill will also shorten the timeframe for filing an appeal to an asylum decision from one month to 15 days, and allow for some failed applicants to be deported from France pending their appeal.

The bill also increases the maximum administrative detention period for those awaiting deportation from 45 to 90 days.

MPs approved the proposals by 228 votes to 139 with 24 abstentions. They will be debated in the parliament’s upper chamber this May.

Jean-Michel Clément, an MP from Macron’s La République en Marche (LREM) party, voted against the bill and subsequently resigned from the party, while 14 of his party colleagues abstained.

Commenting on the bill ahead of the parliamentary vote, Bénédicte Jeannerod, France director at Human Rights Watch, said: “Under the guise of providing a more effective asylum system, the bill includes a series of measures that would diminish access to protection.

“The few – albeit significant – positive measures in the bill cannot hide the concerns it raises for people who were at risk in their home countries.”