France is trying to crack down on dual-nationals convicted of terrorism through a controversial constitutional amendment that would strip them of citizenship.
On Wednesday Prime Minister Manuel Valls announced details of a proposal that President Francois Hollande had called for last month shortly after the deadly Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris. Under the measure, dual nationals who had been sentenced for committing crimes against the nation including terrorism would be stripped of their French citizenship.
“The threat has never been higher,” Valls told reporters. “We must face up to a war, a war against terrorism, against jihadism, against radical Islam.”
The government is submitting the request to parliament, which will debate it in February. Three-fifths of lawmakers of both the lower and upper houses would have to support the measure, which is sharply dividing the ruling Socialist Party whose left-wing members oppose it. It’s also been opposed by French Justice Minister Christine Taubira, who said it wouldn’t “help the fight against terrorism in any way.”
Hollande had called for the constitutional amendment in an address to both houses of parliament at a special session shortly after the November attacks which left 130 dead. He said dual citizens who present a terrorism risk to the country should be stripped of their citizenship and banned from the country.
Authorities have carried out more than 3,000 raids in France since the Paris attacks, leading to 360 house arrests and 51 people jailed, and more than 1,000 people have left the country to join jihadists in Syria and Iraq.
“Everyone has a right to their doubts, their queries, their questions,” Valls said.
