Divisions are deepening in France's ruling Socialist Party over the government's plan to amend the constitution to allow people with double nationality to be stripped of their French citizenship if they are convicted of terrorist offences, reports RFI.
A group of party members want a key committee to rule that the idea is against the party's principles.
The Socialist Party is divided as never before by prime minister Manuel Valls' and President François Hollande's plan to amend France's constitution to include the right to strip binationals of French citizenship if they commit a "crime that constitutes a serious violation of the life of the nation".
Opponents, including former prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, former labour minister Martine Aubry and Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, say it is unjust because it can only apply to one part of the population and pointless because it is unlikely to deter suicide bombers.
Now a group of party members, including two members of the National Committee, are calling on the ethics committee to rule that it is against the party's principles of equality of all citizens and opposition to discrimination.
The chair of the committee is lawyer Jean-Pierre Mignard, usually an ally of Hollande, but he, too, has opposed the idea, suggesting instead that a punishment involving the loss of the vote and other rights that could apply to all.
The government has voted to include the move in changes to the constitution provoked by the Charlie Hebdo and 13 November attacks in Paris.
That would require a three-fifths majority of both houses of parliament, sitting together in a special session.