THE French government has undertaken a raft of counter-terrorism measures since last November’s terrorist attacks in Paris. But one of them has absorbed the country’s political energy and divided its political parties like no other: a proposal to strip French-born dual citizens convicted of terrorism of their French nationality. So there was relief in government on February 10th, when the proposal passed its first legislative hurdle. France’s lower house of parliament approved, by 317 votes to 199, a bill to write such a change for French-born dual citizens into the constitution. Yet several more steps remain before the bill can become law, and the political furore it has created is far from abating.
The nationality-stripping proposal has stirred indignation above all because of its symbolic nature. Any attempt to divide French-born citizens into two categories, with dual citizens part of a second class, is regarded as an assault on the French tradition of droit du sol, or the right to citizenship for those born on its soil. Moreover, although the government, under criticism, amended the bill to remove any reference to dual citizens,...Continue reading
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