Overview

• On June 16, a National Assembly committee approved a bill to bar marriages involving undocumented migrants.
• The proposal, initiated by centrist Stéphane Demilly and championed by UDR deputy Éric Michoux, aims to protect mayors from unwitting complicity in fraudulent unions.
• The Senate approved the bill in February at Stéphane Demilly’s initiative, and President Macron urged its swift debate as a common-sense measure.
• Left-wing parliamentarians have condemned the text as xenophobic and liberticidal, raising alarms over a likely constitutional challenge.
• Béziers mayor Robert Ménard, whose refusal in July 2023 to wed a French citizen and an Algerian man under expulsion triggered the drive for new legislation, faces trial in July.