The program of the National Rally, vying for the legislative elections in France (June 30-July 7), continues to provoke strong reactions. The question of the exclusion of French people with a second nationality from certain positions has created a stir. Details.
During the presentation of the National Rally’s programme for the legislative elections on Monday, Jordan Bardella, the number 2 in Marine Le Pen’s party, explained his intention to ban certain functions for holders of dual nationality.
According to him, these would be strategic or sensitive positions, but this racist practice is above all unconstitutional. Therefore, the National Rally should change the law to allow such a segregationist measure to be applied.
And if we are to believe the way the far-right party operates, it is entirely possible that this measure will be extended to more than just strategic positions. This risks creating more complications for the employment of French people of foreign origin, particularly Maghrebis and sub-Saharans. It is quite clear that the RN measure does not target dual nationals who hold a Western nationality.
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“The French political party, which risks obtaining a majority in parliament, has spread the idea that there are two categories of citizen. When Bardella talks about dual nationals we know very well that he is talking about Arabs and blacks. The idea of creating a subcategory of citizen comes from the Nazi regime. The more Bardella presents racist ideas, the more he rises in the polls? What should we deduce from this? », Wrote lawyer Nabil Boudi.
While they are already victims of “ordinary” racism and discrimination in employment because of their appearance or their first and last name for “normal” jobs and for the civil service, dual nationals should see their hopes of integration into the French economy greatly reduced.
This measure, if it is implemented and in the event of a victory by the National Rally in the legislative elections, should not only exclude a large part of the French population but should ultimately reinforce a caste society, where so-called “native” French people without any other nationality (even those with diverse origins like Jordan Bardella who is of Algerian descent) should be elevated to a higher caste compared to second-class French citizens.
“We do not intend to call into question dual nationality (…). On the other hand, we actually intend to reserve a certain number of strategic jobs in sectors particularly linked to security and defense exclusively for French citizens,” Jordan Bardella tried to defend himself by explaining the measure.
“Today, can we imagine a Franco-Russian working in the Ministry of the Armed Forces? », he asked to justify this measure which according to him should avoid conflicts of interest in strategic sectors such as defence, security and nuclear power.
For her part, Marine Le Pen, faced with the torrent of criticism, tried to temper it by declaring on , enough to further fuel the concerns of holders of dual or triple nationality.
Wanting to reassure, the leader of the extreme right added that dual nationals could continue to occupy all public sector jobs. Except that her words are not to the taste of legal specialists who are crying scandal.
It should be noted that the civil service in France is in practice open to French nationals, including those with dual nationality, as well as European nationals if they pass the competitive examination, and nationals from outside the European Union, but in their case, they are only contract workers.
Similarly, for so-called “sovereignty” jobs and professions that include diplomacy, defense or the state budget, French law indicates that they are reserved for French people, but this does not prevent a French person with another nationality from accessing them. Furthermore, there is no mechanism for controlling nationalities at the employment level.
“France makes no distinction between dual nationals and other French people in terms of the rights and duties linked to citizenship,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recalls on its website.
For constitutionalists, this measure wanted by the National Rally gives the possibility of resorting to the European Court of Human Rights or the Council of State given that it is “unconstitutional”.
