FRANCE: Paris set to introduce U.S.-style naturalisation ceremonies as part of national identity reforms

Record ID: 572293

  • Title: FRANCE: Paris set to introduce U.S.-style naturalisation ceremonies as part of national identity reforms
  • Date: 9th February 2010
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (FILE - NOVEMBER 2009) (REUTERS) EIFFEL TOWER FRENCH FLAG VARIOUS STREET SCENES ILLUSTRATING ETHNIC DIVERSITY IN PARIS /SHOT OF PARIS OPERA HOUSE
  • Embargoed: 24th February 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA5OPKS6EVFI8HT1XUGXK9V4BXQ
  • Story Text: France is set to introduce beefed-up naturalisation ceremonies as part of a series of measures aimed at boosting integration, which will also included hanging the French flag in schools and putting the Universal Declarations of the Rights of Man up on classroom walls, Prime Minister Francois Fillon said on Monday (February 8).
    The ceremonies, at which a charter of rights and duties would be signed in front of a public official, would be similar to U.S. naturalisation events and are one of the firm recommendations to emerge from an often ill-tempered three-month debate on national identity.
    Prime Minister Francois Fillon told a news conference in Paris that other measures to be ordered included flying the French flag at all schools and fixing the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man in classrooms.
    "To firm up our civic and moral values, I saw in the expression of our fellow citizens a call to the Republic, its rights, but also its duties," said Fillon, referring to grass-roots debates his government has organised across the country about what it is to be French.
    Critics from across the political spectrum slammed the whole process, which was ordered by President Nicolas Sarkozy, saying it was divisive and served only to fuel anti-Muslim sentiment.
    But Fillon defended the debate and said he would set up a commission of experts to delve deeper into the issue in the months ahead, adding that Sarkozy would make a keynote speech on identity in April.
    In the meantime, a few concrete measures would be taken, Fillon said.
    "The tricolore flag will have to fly at every school and the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen of 1789 which is a point of reference for our republic will have to be present in every classroom."
    National identity was a key theme in Sarkozy's campaign for the presidency in 2007 and he reignited the debate last year calling on his new immigration minister, Eric Besson, to organise town hall meetings across France to discuss the topic.
    Leftist opponents said it was an awkward attempt by Sarkozy to distract the public from a series of gaffes and economic woes that have left his approval ratings at record lows.
    It was also met with much unease and even anger in France's Muslim population, estimated to be five-million strong, with critics seeing the debate as an attempt to single out and castigate the recent influx of immigrants from North Africa.
  • Copyright Holder: POOL (CAN SELL)
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register