Authorities in France have unfolded plans to amend the constitution to revoke birthplace citizenship on the French Indian Ocean Island of Mayotte.
The plan comes after the island has been struggling with a migration crisis.
At present, France grants citizenship through bloodline as well as birthplace, and this proposal risks further ramping up tensions in France as a result of the adoption of a tough new immigration law.
Soon after being introduced, the plan sparked controversies. The left denounced the plan as another attack on the country’s values. However, some local campaigners on this island welcomed it, and political leaders on the right and the far suggested it would be applied across the whole of France.
The reform was introduced by Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin after he reached the island.
We are going to take a radical decision. It will no longer be possible to become French if you are not the child of a French parent.
He noted that the measure would minimise the “attractiveness” of the archipelago for prospective immigrants.
It is an extremely strong, clear, radical measure, which obviously will be limited to the Mayotte archipelago.
The head of the Socialists in the National Assembly, Boris Vallaud, said they would oppose the revision of the constitution. He noted that birthright citizenship is not negotiable.
According to a report from InfoMigrants, leader of the right-wing Republican party, Eric Ciotti, Darmanin’s proposed reform; however, he complained that it did not go far enough.
What is happening in Mayotte risks hitting mainland France tomorrow.
Mayotte is dealing with a migration crisis, which led to protests in this territory.
The figures from France’s National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) reveal that there are about 310,000 people on this island. However, officials say the statistics are underestimated.
In addition, the INSEE says that over 40 per cent of the islanders survive on less than €160 per month. Furthermore, nearly half of island residents do not have French nationality.
Foreigners in Mayotte who obtain residence permits can only use them on the island and cannot travel to mainland France.
In spite of the fact that France grants citizenship through bloodline and birthplace, rules for citizenship through birthplace have been significantly tightened over the years. In December, the Parliament of France passed a tough immigration bill adopted under pressure from the right, and in January, France’s top constitutional authority censured contentious additions made on the insistence of the right.
