Renaissance leader Gabriel Attal has put immigration at the heart of his newly launched presidential campaign, calling for France to admit fewer people while giving priority to those coming to work.
Issued on: 26/05/2026 - 14:06
3 min Reading time
Attal, who formally announced his candidacy for the 2027 election on Friday, said on Tuesday that France should “take in fewer people in order to take them in better”. Speaking on France Inter radio, the leader of the Renaissance party argued that economic immigration should be central to France’s migration policy. “What I will be championing in this campaign is a preference for labour,” Attal said. “Economic immigration must become the priority of our migration policy.” He said he would propose tightening the rules on family reunification, including by increasing the length of time a foreign resident must have lived in France before being able to bring over a spouse. Under current rules, family reunification allows foreigners who have been legally resident in France for more than 18 months – or 12 months for Algerian nationals – to bring their spouse and minor children to join them, provided they meet conditions including suitable housing and income requirements. Macron's Renaissance party endorses former PM Attal for 2027 presidential bid Divided camp Attal’s stance appears designed to give his campaign a firmer line on one of the most sensitive issues in French politics, at a time when the far-right National Rally is leading in the polls ahead of 2027. But his candidacy has also exposed the strain within President Emmanuel Macron’s political camp. Several senior figures from the presidential majority, including Gerald Darmanin, Elisabeth Borne and National Assembly President Yael Braun-Pivet, have so far withheld their support. Attal, who has been at odds with Macron since the president’s decision to dissolve the National Assembly, sought to present himself as more than a continuity candidate for the outgoing political era. He said he did not want to be “the guardian of the temple of those who have governed the country for the past 10 years”. “I do not intend to contest the 2027 presidential election with exactly the same people as in 2017,” he said. “We also need to bring in new faces.” The former prime minister pointed to grassroots backing as evidence that his campaign had momentum ahead of his first major rally, due to take place in Paris on Saturday. “There are more than 1,300 mayors and local councillors who have signed a call to support my candidacy,” he said. “There are regional presidents, departmental presidents, mayors, ministers and former ministers.” As Macronists turn their backs on the president, left and right struggle to unite 'We mustn’t fight the wrong battle' The launch of Attal’s campaign has intensified the rivalry at the centre of French politics, with former prime minister Borne warning that Macron’s allies risk wasting precious energy on internal battles. Borne, who stepped down from the leadership of Renaissance after disagreements with Attal, told Franceinfo on Tuesday she did not believe in the prospect of a “peaceful contest” between the two main Macronist contenders – Attal and fellow former prime minister Edouard Philippe. Philippe, the mayor of Le Havre and leader of the Horizons party, declared his presidential ambitions months ago. Attal, who leads both Renaissance and its parliamentary group, entered the race last week. Borne warned that competition inside the centrist bloc could distract from the wider political challenge facing the movement. “All the energy we spend competing within this centrist bloc is energy we are not spending on offering solutions to the French people and on condemning the solutions put forward by the extremes,” she said. She said she was “not reassured” by claims that each candidate could run separately before eventually uniting behind one figure. She also criticised what she described as “individual adventures”, “personal and tactical agendas” and the inability of the centrist camp to come together even to assess its record after nearly a decade in power. “We mustn’t fight the wrong battle,” she said, warning of the possibility of a second-round run-off between the National Rally and the hard-left France Unbowed. “We should all focus and unite to avoid that scenario.” (with newswires)
