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Immigration in France: Toward a Not So Open Policy?
| Article
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12761 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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| Issue
Date : |
3 / 1987 |
3,084 Words |
| Author
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Gerard-Francois Dumont
Gerard-Francois Dumont is author of The Rise in Democratic
Imbalance, president of the Political Demographic Institute in
Paris, and has written numerous articles regarding immigration. |
Paris, November 1986: The government prepared a reform of its Nationality Code, revising conditions for the "naturalization" of foreigners living in France. The announcement of the reform was front page news in every French newspaper for days, first because of the impending reform itself and secondly because of an unexpected event that occurred while the reform was being announced.
The Council of State (cabinet) made public its decision regarding a document that is traditionally kept secret and only for governmental use. The minister of justice and president of the council, Albin Chalandon, reminded the council of its responsibility to maintain discretion. The secretary general of the largest party in the majority, the Rassemblement pour la Republique (Rally for the Republic), or RPR, vehemently criticized the "politicization" of the Council of State.
What basically is the reform's objective? Citizenship laws in France are generally broad. One part of the old code grants automatic citizenship in certain cases to aliens who make no voluntary effort nor have the desire to become French citizens. Some critics say that such a law is contrary to human rights, because a democratic country should not impose its nationality on any alien without asking permission. During a recent census, in fact, thousands of legal Frenchmen proclaimed themselves to be of another nationality.
The fact of the matter is that the reform proposed by the government is at the heart of the immigration debate. The French evoke the specter of racism and others the specter of immigration for political or electoral motives. European immigration since 1880, after World War
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