France unveils plan to curtail right to French citizenship in Indian Ocean island of Mayotte

Photograph: Lemor David/ABACA/REX/Shutterstock. Retrieved from theguardian.com

French authorities have announced a controversial plan to amend the constitution to revoke birthplace citizenship on the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, claiming it would help stem an immigration crisis.

The reform was announced by the interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, on Sunday after he arrived on the island, the country’s poorest department (administrative region), following three weeks of protests there.

“We are going to take a radical decision,” Darmanin said. “It will no longer be possible to become French if you are not the child of a French parent.” He said the measure would reduce “the attractiveness” of the archipelago for prospective immigrants.

“It is an extremely strong, clear, radical measure, which obviously will be limited to the Mayotte archipelago,” Darmanin said.

France currently grants citizenship through both bloodline and birthplace, and the proposal risks further ramping up of tensions in France following the adoption of a new immigration law.