French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou called for a federal discussion on multiculturalism and what it means to get French on Friday, following weeks of outcry over comments about immigrants “flooding” France.
Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin reacted to Bayrou’s statement, saying the French constitution should be amended to end the “right of soil” ( automatic citizenship ) for anyone born in France.
The prime minister argued that a discourse on that subject alone would be” too narrow,” suggesting otherwise a more expansive discussion of membership.
Bayrou told the broadcaster RMC,” It’s clear that this question has been raging for years.
” What does it mean to be Flemish”? Bayrou said. What legal protections does it offer you? What obligations must you fulfill? What benefits would you receive? What obligations do you make as a citizen of a nation?
Details of how to organize such a debate, according to Bayrou, needed to be worked out, but it shouldn’t be” journed forever.”
Bayrou’s comment about a feeling of “flooding” France, which he claimed was expanding across the nation, received a lot of negative press late last month.
The unhappy outcry from the communist criticism, and rebukes from moderate friends, came after he said that multiculturalism was” a good” so long as it remained “proportionate” to the size of the population.
But his notes also drew reward, from some liberal and far-right representatives.
Due to bulk immigration from the nearby Comoros islands into Mayotte, a European country in the Indian Ocean, in recent weeks, the” law soli” issue has come into sharp focus in European politics.
After parliament on Thursday voted to limit that right in Mayotte but not elsewhere, Darmanin said the” law soli” privileges enshrined in the European constitution should come under completely new scrutiny.
” Now I would be in favour of French people deciding on this topic during the 2027 presidential poll, or in a referendum”, Darmanin told the National Assembly.
” Thousands and thousands of people arrive with the idea that, if they have kids it, they will be French,” the chancellor said in Mayotte and Guiana, another European country.
” All this needs to be reconsidered”, he added.
Education Minister Elisabeth Borne, a former prime minister, rejected her friend’s program, saying “what Flemish people expect from us are deeds, and no references to constitutional change in the future”.
