France’s prime minister has called for a national debate on “what it means to be French” as the country mulls over whether to end “jus soli” or birthright citizenship.
François Bayrou demanded action after a wave of immigration into Mayotte, a French territory in the Indian Ocean, put the issue in the spotlight.
Earlier this week, he asserted that France was “flooded” by immigrants, provoking howls of protest from the Left-wing opposition.
The centrist’s call for a national immigration debate came after Gérald Darmanin, the justice minister, suggested on Thursday that the constitution should be changed to end current citizenship rights granted to people born in France, known as “jus soli” or “right of soil”.
The prime minister said discussion on that topic alone would be “too narrow”, calling instead for a wider debate about citizenship. “It’s obvious that this question has been fermenting for years,” Bayrou told broadcaster RMC.
“What does it mean to be French?,” asked Mr Bayrou. “What rights does it give you? What duties does it demand of you? What advantages do you get? What do you commit to when you become a member of a national community?”
He did not elaborate on what form such a debate would take but said that, regardless, it should not be “postponed forever”.
Gerald Darmanin, France’s justice minister, has called for the redefinition of ‘jus soli’ rights enshrined in the French constitution – Lodovic Marin/AFP
On Thursday, parliament voted to restrict that right in Mayotte, where immigrants have arrived from the neighbouring Comoros islands, but not elsewhere, following a stormy debate in the National Assembly.
Mr Darmanin said “jus soli” rights enshrined in the French constitution should be totally redefined.
“Today I would be in favour of French people deciding on this question during the 2027 presidential election, or in a referendum,” Mr Darmanin told the National Assembly.
In Mayotte and Guiana – another French territory – “thousands and thousands of people arrive with the idea that, if they have children there, they will be French”, the minister said.
“All this needs to be reconsidered,” he added.
Mr Darmanin’s move was backed by immigration hardliners, with Laurent Wauquiez, the leader of the conservative Republicans party, saying Mayotte’s restrictions should be extended “to the rest of France’s territory”.
But Elisabeth Borne, the Left-leaning education minister and former prime minister, rejected the suggestion, saying “what French people expect from us are acts, and not references to constitutional change in the future”.
Elisabeth Borne, France’s education minister, has rejected calls for the extension of citizenship restrictions – Marine Gachet/AFP
The last time France organised a “great debate” on immigration and what it means to be French was back in 2009 under Nicolas Sarkozy, the former president. Citizens’ debates were organised in town halls and state buildings around the country but little came of it.
At the time, Mr Bayrou railed against the initiative, saying: “National identity doesn’t belong to politicians.”
Long seen as a bumbling moderate, Mr Bayrou issued uncharacteristically strident remarks last week about a rising sense in France that immigrants were “flooding” the country, couching the claim by insisting immigration was “a positive” so long as it remained “proportionate” to the size of the population.
Fragile minority government
The 73-year-old is at the helm of a fragile minority government made up mainly of ministers from President Macron’s Renaissance party and the Right-wing Republicans. Critics say his immigration remarks were made to placate the hard-Right National Rally and avoid a vote of no confidence in parliament that toppled the previous government of Michel Barnier.
His tactics appear to be working. This week, Mr Bayrou successfully passed a long-awaited French budget bill after making concessions to Socialists who also abstained from backing a no-confidence motion, to the fury of the hard-Left opposition.
However, the Socialists said they would table their own no-confidence motion on the back of Mr Bayrou’s immigration remarks “in the name of values” and ‘against the “Trumpisation of French political life”.
Le Monde criticised Mr Bayrou’s debate initiative saying it muddied the waters by “mixing up immigration policies and “national identity“.
