Prime Minister François Bayrou has 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's call for a national discussion French identity comes in response to comments from Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin who said that the constitution should be changed to end end current citizenship rights granted to people born in France, known as "jus soli" or "right of soil".
The prime minister said discussion on that topic alone would be "too narrow", calling instead for a wider debate about citizenship.
"It's obvious that this question has been fermenting for years," Bayrou told broadcaster RMC on Friday.
"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 details of how to organise such a debate needed to be worked out but it should not be "postponed forever".
French PM in hot water over migrant 'flooding' gaffe
Late last month, Bayrou came under heavy criticism for remarks about a feeling of immigrants "flooding" France that he said was growing across the country.
This sparked an outcry from the leftist opposition, and rebukes from centrist allies, after he said that immigration was "a positive" so long as it remained "proportionate" to the size of the population.
But his remarks also drew praise, from some conservative and far-right deputies.
His latest call for a debate on identity and citizenship have been slammed by the Socialist Party, who posted on X that there is no question about birthright in France and they will "defend this founding principle of our Republic".
Children 'will be French'
The "jus soli" question has come into sharp focus in French politics recently because of mass immigration into Mayotte – the French overseas territory in the Indian Ocean – from the neighbouring Comoros islands.
After parliament voted on Thursday to restrict that right in Mayotte – but not elsewhere – Darmanin said "jus soli" rights enshrined in the French constitution should come under review entirely.
"Today I would be in favour of French people deciding on this question during the 2027 presidential election, or in a referendum," Darmanin told the National Assembly.
In Mayotte and Guiana – another French overseas territory in South America – "thousands and thousands of people arrive with the idea that, if they have children there, they will be French," the minister said.
"All this needs to be reconsidered," he added.
French government faces no confidence vote as Socialists mull allegiance
Darmanin's move was backed by immigration hardliners, with Les Republicains boss Laurent Wauquiez saying Mayotte's restrictions should be extended "to the rest of France's territory".
But Education Minister Elisabeth Borne – a former prime minister – rejected her colleague's initiative, saying "what French people expect from us are acts, and not references to constitutional change in the future".
Bayrou's debate initiative itself came in for criticism, with the Le Monde daily accusing the premier of mixing up issues.
"François Bayrou himself has added to the confusion by referring to the [Mayotte] archipelago when raising the question of migration in general," the paper said in an editorial.
"He has fallen into the double trap of considering Mayotte as a laboratory, and of mixing up immigration policies and 'national identity'," Le Monde added.
(With newswires)
