Tomorrow, French Minister of the Interior Dominique de Villepin (better known to Americans from his earlier role as Foreign Minister) is to present a series of proposals to reduce illegal immigration to France. The timing and nature of the proposals are clearly intended to still fears among voters on the right in the run-up to France's May 29th referendum on the European Constitution.

Le Figaro reports on the plan's details:

Creating a public agency charged with overseeing immigration, reinforcing the border police, modifying the Civil Code in order to fight against bogus mariages, setting up a national database to oversee residence permits, establishing a list of safe countries in order to more rapidly process asylum applications... With only three to go before the referendum on the European Constitution, immigration continues to worry many voters. With his plan, Dominque de Villepin shows the government's desire to "rapidly and effectively" respond to the problem of illegal immigration.

A cynical ploy on the part of the government? Well, that's democracy. With around 35% of voters on the right opposed to the Constitution for fear that it will lead to Turkish membership and a new wave of immigration, the government is desperate to appear tough on illegals.

And all the problem is there. While the measures contained in de Villepin's plan are sound and his tone admirable, any really effective policy needs to be coordianted from Brussels. Spain, for example, is presently offering amnesty to its illegal immigrants provided they are employed. Once these illegals gain a residency permit, they will be entitled to travel and work anywhere they like in the EU.

If European immigration policy is in shambles, it's because the EU has made it that way. French voters must now decide whether to remain with the present incoherent system or instead put their faith in further consolidation. A Pascalian wager if there ever was one.

In his interview with Le Figaro, de Villepin estimated France's illegal immigrant population at between 200,000 and 400,000 (roughly the same range identified by a recent British study). Asked whether he would recommend that those already in France receive an amnesty de Villepin responded:

It's out of the question! The massive amnesties of 1981 and 1997 ended in failure. Each time, they produced a sudden rush of new immigrants.

The French government's new policies, like its old ones, are almost certainly doomed to fail. But how sweet de Villepin's words would have sounded on the other side of the Atlantic...