Hollande Abandons Constitutional Reforms, Blaming France’s Right
French President François Hollande announced on March 30 that he had abandoned constitutional reforms which would have deprived convicted terrorists of their French citizenship and continued France’s state of emergency, initially implemented in November 2015. While France’s National Assembly, dominated by the Socialist Party, first passed these reforms with a favorable majority vote on February 10, the Senate, dominated by the right-wing, decided to substantially alter the original version passed by the Assembly. This modification and the subsequent disagreement between both chambers ultimately led President Hollande to rescind the reforms. The proposed deprivation of nationality law had sparked intense debate in February, effectively splitting the Socialist Party. Former Minister of Justice Christiane Taubira resigned over the reform, citing her strong ideological disagreement with the reform and judging it discriminatory and ineffective. Following Hollande’s announcement, Taubira expressed her joy on social media, tweeting, “Some causes carry in themselves the test of truth for the values which bind us.”
President Hollande blamed members of France’s right-wing opposition party for the failure of the reform and lamented that the measures were important in the fight against terrorism and for the safety of the state. Prime Minister Manuel Valls heavily criticized the Senate and stated on radio channel RTL news that because of the Republicans’ (LR) opposition, France “will not be able to deprive the attackers of November 13 of his nationality [sic].” Valls was referring in particular to the capture of Salah Abdeslam, a French citizen suspected of participating in the November attacks who fled Paris attacks and was arrested in Brussels on March 18. Abdeslam had subsequently been extradited to France.
The Republicans immediately retaliated against Hollande’s government, refuting claims that they had blocked the reforms. Former President and current leader of the Republicans Nicolas Sarkozy stated in an interview on RTL that Hollande had created the conditions for the failure of the reform. He added that Hollande had offered too many promises without any results, thereby condemning the country to immobility. Francois Fillon, former Prime Minister during the Sarkozy administration, criticized Valls in an interview on BFMTV, describing Valls as a manipulator with no vision.
Major opponents of the deprivation of nationality law were satisfied that the constitutional reform fell through. French newspaper l’Humanité reported the declaration of Pierre Laurent, national secretary of the French Communist Party (PCF), who voiced his distaste for the entire debate, referring to it as an argument that is against the values of the republic. The representatives from the Leftist Front (FG) stressed the discriminatory and dividing nature of the law, stating that to deprive terrorists’ nationality would only reinforce the claims of the right and the radical Islamists.
Ultimately, after four months of debate, President Francois Hollande now abandons a reform which he initially seemed particularly inclined to pursue. This abrupt end to the debate, although welcome in the eyes of many French citizens, may serve only to weaken Hollande’s control over his own party and bolster criticism that he fails to unite France’s majority.