by eurogreen
Wed Jan 27th, 2016 at 02:18:48 PM EST
Well, that's a relief...
French minister Christiane Taubira resigns after fallout over terror policy | World news | The Guardian
Taubira's ultimate showdown with Hollande and his prime minister, Manuel Valls, was over the president's controversial plans to strip convicted French-born terrorists of their citizenship if they have a second dual nationality. The measure - known as the "loss of nationality" plan - was to be written into the constitution next month.
The move, which the government had admitted was purely symbolic, was seen by critics on the left, such as Taubira, as having the dangerous side-effect of sending a message that French citizens could be divided into two categories - with those who were "pure" French worth more than those with mixed backgrounds.
As Justice Minister, it would have been her job to defend the amendments to the Constitution, and the ensuing legislation, creating two-tier citizenship.
This may seem a minor thing to nationals of countries which were founded along ethnic lines. But for the French Republic, it's a definitional issue, and in practice, a clear-cut left/right divider.
frontpaged with minor edit - Bjinse
Taubira was regarded as Hollande's left-wing alibi, and her resignation has the immense virtue of clarifying things : the divorce between Hollande and the left is now final and irrevocable.
Another amendment will constitutionalize the "state of emergency", a partial suspension of rule of law. The Ligue des Droits de l'Homme has challenged it before the Conseil d'état, and lost. So we are likely to be subjected to the "Etat d'urgence permanent", because according to Valls, the very continued existence of Islamic State is justification enough to prolong it.
The new minister of justice is known to favour closer integration between the ministry of Justice and the Interior Ministry. So, logically enough, along with authoritarianism and nationalism, we are going to get a weakening of the separation of powers too.
Happy new year!
