France to pursue plans to strip dual citizens’ nationalism in terrorism case

The decision was met with fierce criticism from left-wing allies of the Socialist government.

There were also calls from the right for Justice Minister Christiane Taubira to resign as she had publicly opposed the measure.

After Islamist gunmen and suicide bombers killed 130 people in the November 13 attacks in Paris, President Francois Hollande called for the measure as part of a constitutional amendment aimed at stepping up the fight against terrorism.

Taubira had said on Tuesday that it had been dropped from the amendment bill and that it posed fundamental problems regarding the right to French citizenship based on birthplace.

Unveiling the bill on Wednesday, Valls defended the measure saying that it would be strictly limited to people convicted on terrorism charges and would be used after they had served out their sentence.

Speaking at the same news conference as Valls, Taubira quashed speculation that she would resign. “In the current state of things, my presence or absence from government is not what matters, it’s the president’s and the government’s capacity to deal with the dangers facing us.”

Currently only naturalized citizens can be stripped of their French citizenship.

Extending the measure to all dual nationals has divided politicians on both the left and right.

Conservative MP Eric Ciotti led calls on the right for Taubira to resign, saying that the government’s credibility and coherence was on the line. France’s highest administrative court, the Conseil d’Etat, has given a lukewarm backing for the plan, while the government-appointed rights watchdog came out against.

“It clearly means that there will be two classes of nationality and two classes of citizenship, that’s why I say it raises fundamental questions,” right-wing politician Jacques Toubon said on France Inter radio.

A constitutional amendment requires a three-fifths majority of the Congress of both houses or a referendum vote.

The French cabinet also backed reform proposals that could see the state of emergency called after last month’s Paris attacks enshrined in the constitution, prompting criticism from rights groups.

Special policing powers used under the state of emergency — such as house arrests and the right to raid houses without clearance by a judge — are currently based on an ordinary law which can be challenged at the constitutional court.

In the wake of the Paris attacks, Hollande called for the emergency powers to be protected from litigation by placing them in the constitution.

“The threat has never been higher,” Valls said.

“We must face up to a war, a war against terrorism, against jihadism, against radical Islam.”

Valls said the latest figures showed more than 1,000 people had left France to join the jihad in Syria and Iraq, of which an estimated 148 had died and 250 returned.

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