PARIS, France (AP) — The French parliament on Tuesday approved an immigration law backed by President Emmanuel Macron’s government after he faced a major rebellion within his own party over the far-right’s support for tougher legislation.

The lower house voted for the law with a large majority, although the ruling party ultimately did not have to rely on the support of Marine Le Pen’s far-right Rassemblement National (RN) to push the bill through.

Various amendments have further tightened immigration measures since the bill was originally presented, with the left accusing the government of caving in to pressure from the far right.

Le Pen supported the strengthened bill, but key left-leaning members of Macron’s Renaissance Party and allied factions said they could no longer support it, and several ministers reportedly threatened to resign.

“We can rejoice in ideological progress, an ideological victory even for the National Rally, since this is now enshrined in law as a national priority,” said Le Pen, a three-time presidential candidate who leads RN lawmakers in parliament and is widely represented is expected to run for president again in 2027.

The RN had previously said it would vote against the bill or abstain from voting. French media called her surprise move a “kiss of death” for Macron’s party.

The bill was rejected last week without even being debated in the National Assembly, a blow to Macron.

The Senate of the Upper House had previously passed the law, which was then passed in the Lower House with 349 yes votes and 186 no votes.

“MOMENT OF SHAME”

A key element of the law is that social security benefits for foreigners will now be conditional on them staying in France for five years, or 30 months for those who have a job.

Migration quotas can now also be agreed and there are measures for the withdrawal of French nationality from prisoners with dual nationality.

Prominent left-leaning Renaissance MP Sacha Houlie had said he would vote against the law and urged others to follow suit. Some sources said about 30 pro-Macron MPs would do so.

As a sign of the seriousness of the situation, Macron called a meeting of his ruling party at the Elysée Palace before the vote, party sources told AFP.

According to one participant at the meeting, Macron said he would give the bill a new reading instead of promulgating it if it was passed only with the help of votes from Le Pen’s RN.

Health Minister Aurelien Rousseau, Higher Education Minister Sylvie Retailleau and Housing Minister Patrice Vergriete met Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and warned her against resigning, sources told AFP.

“The majority stuck together, the extreme right’s plan failed,” Borne said after the vote on the social media platform X.

According to a ministerial source who confirmed a report in daily Le Figaro, Rousseau handed a letter of resignation to Borne on Tuesday evening, but he did not say whether she would accept it.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, an ambitious 41-year-old who pushed the law, had warned on Sunday that Le Pen risked winning the 2027 presidential election if the law was not passed.

The left and the radical left had reacted with horror at the prospect of the law’s passage. The leader of the Socialist deputies in the National Assembly, Boris Vallaud, called it a “big moment of shame for the government.”

The passage of the law was crucial for Macron as he will not be able to run again in 2027 after two consecutive terms in office and risks being seen as a lame duck with more than three years left on his term.

Since the general election that followed his re-election in 2022, the government no longer has a majority in parliament.

‘MOMENT OF TRUTH’

“The political crisis surrounding the immigration law is a moment of truth in which all the fragilities of Emmanuel Macron’s mandate come together,” daily Le Monde said in an editorial.

Dozens of NGOs criticized what they described as possibly the “most regressive” immigration law in decades.

It is “the most regressive bill in the last 40 years for the rights and living conditions of foreigners, including those who have been residing in France for a long time,” around 50 groups, including the French Human Rights League, said in a joint statement.

“With this text, directly inspired by RN anti-immigration pamphlets, we are facing a change in the history of the Republic and its fundamental values,” said Fabien Roussel, leader of the French Communist Party.