French premier Dominique de Villepin has given the Christian Churches in France reassurances that the amendments planned by the government to the bill on immigration will take into due account “the dual need of strictness and humanity”. The premier says so in a long letter he has sent to Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, President of the French Bishops’ Conference, in response to the criticisms that the Council of the Christian Church in France – consisting of the Catholic Church, the Protestant Federation of France and the Assembly of the Orthodox Bishops – had expressed to de Villepin in a letter of 25 April. The Prime Minister had then received Cardinal Ricard and the chairman of the Protestant Federation, Pastor Jean-Arnold de Clermont, at Matignon on Saturday 29 April. Following this meeting, the Prime Minister sent a letter to the President of the Catholic bishops in which, in substance, he defended the policy of the government on immigration and responded to the criticisms made by the Churches on matters relating to family reunification, procedures for the obtaining of residence permits, the “charter of skills and talents” and the handling of asylum seekers.
