PARIS: Prime Minister Francois Bayrou on Friday called for a national debate on immigration and what it means to be French, days after stirring controversy with comments about immigrants “flooding” France.

Bayrou was responding to Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin, who said on Thursday that the constitution should be changed to end citizenship rights granted to people born in France, known as “jus soli” or “right of soil”.

The prime minister said that topic was “too narrow” and called instead for a wider debate on citizenship.

“It’s obvious that this question has been fermenting for years,” Bayrou told broadcaster RMC.

“What does it mean to be French?” Bayrou said.

“What rights does it give you? What duties does it demand of you? What advantages do you get? What do you commit to when you become a member of a national community?”

Bayrou said the details of the debate needed to be worked out, but it should not be “postponed forever”.

Bruno Retailleau, France’s hardline interior minister, said he was “completely in agreement” with the prime minister.

Foreigners who want to become French, he said, have to uphold republican values and share “a common destiny” with the French.

Last month, Bayrou came under criticism for remarks about a feeling of immigrants “flooding” France that he said was growing across the country.

Anger from the leftist opposition and rebukes from centrist allies came after he said that immigration was “a positive” so long as it remained “proportionate” to the size of the population.

His comments drew praise, however, from some conservative and far-right deputies.

‘Needs to be reconsidered’

France has for long welcomed refugees and migrants. But a rise in the number of asylum seekers, an affordable housing shortage and a cost-of-living crisis have fuelled social tensions.

The far-right wants to abolish the centuries-old principle of “droit du sol”, which grants French nationality to people born in France to foreign parents on certain conditions.

At present, a child born in France to foreign parents can be granted French nationality from the age of 13, provided he or she has lived in the country for at least five years.

The principle has become controversial because of the arrival of migrants in Mayotte, a French Indian Ocean territory, from the neighbouring Comoros islands.

After parliament on Thursday voted to restrict that right in Mayotte, but not elsewhere, Darmanin said “jus soli” rights enshrined in the constitution should be reviewed and possibly be decided in a popular referendum.

Bayrou said that in Mayotte and Guiana — another French territory — “thousands and thousands of people arrive with the idea that, if they have children there, they will be French”.

“All this needs to be reconsidered,” the prime minister added.

‘Founding principle’

Darmanin’s move was backed by hardliners, with right-wing The Republicans boss Laurent Wauquiez saying Mayotte’s restrictions should be extended “to the rest of France’s territory”.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2025