The French government unveiled a proposal for constitutional amendments that would shield state-of-emergency measures from legal challenges and strip some French-born terrorists of their nationality, reports The Wall Street Journal.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls told a news conference Wednesday the constitutional change was necessary to protect France from the threat of French nationals returning home from Islamic State territory to mount terror attacks. More than a thousand French nationals have traveled to Iraq and Syria, Mr. Valls said, adding that 250 have returned to French territory.
Under the proposal, state-of-emergency laws that allow authorities to detain and search suspects without warrants would be enshrined in the French constitution, insulating the measures from court challenges.
“The truth is that the threat has never been this high. The truth is that we have to face up to a war against terrorism, jihad, against radicalism,” Mr. Valls said after a meeting with French President François Hollande.
The proposal is a measure of how the November 13th terror attacks on Paris have shaken the French Republic to its core. French and Belgian nationals traveled from Islamic State territory to the heart of France, unleashing a series of attacks that left 130 people dead.
As recently as Monday, a senior member of Mr. Hollande’s cabinet played down suggestions the government aimed to expand its powers to take away citizenship.
“Stripping citizenship from people born French - who have belonged to the national community since their birth - raises a substantial problem on a fundamental principle: the right of soil,” justice minister Christiane Taubira told a radio station in Algeria, which provides dual citizenship to many French nationals.
French law already allows the government to take away citizenship from French nationals born abroad if they’re convicted of terrorism. Under the new proposal, France can also take away citizenship from convicted terrorists even if they were born in France, Mr. Valls said. However, the proposed law would only apply to dual citizens, because international law forbids countries from rendering people stateless, he added.
“It’s a heavy sanction the nation can legitimately inflict on those who commit high treason,” Mr. Valls said.
Since 2007, only seven foreign-born nationals have been stripped of their French nationality after they were convicted of terrorism, said French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve.
Parliament is due to debate on the proposed amendment in February, ahead of an eventual vote, Mr. Valls said. With the backing of Mr. Hollande’s majority in parliament, the legislation faces few hurdles, because many lawmakers in the center-right and far-right opposition have been calling for a crackdown.