Banning “sensitive professions” for dual citizens: issues raised by Jordan Bardella’s proposal

Sebastien Chenu was the first to mention this, Jordan Bardella confirmed it on Monday at his press conference. The National Rally (RN) wants to “prevent” French nationals from holding “extremely sensitive positions”, namely “the most strategic positions in the state”.

Dual citizenship status, changes to the Constitution… These are the questions that arise after the much-discussed statement by the leader of the Republic of Armenia.

What does an RN actually offer?

On Monday, the RN said it wanted to ban “binational companies” from taking up “extremely sensitive” positions, such as Franco-Russian people holding strategic defense leadership positions. The measure will be passed through an “organic law and decree,” according to the far-right party, which is a top voting priority in legislative elections. This affects “very, very few people,” said PH leader Jordan Bardella.

In January, the party already introduced a bill providing for the possibility of prohibiting access to jobs in government bodies and companies for French people with citizenship of another state. “3.3 million French people could be denied access to work tomorrow,” according to CFDT estimates.

What does the law say now?

“Today all French are exclusively French. You can have one, two or three other nationalities, this does not apply to French law,” emphasizes Gwenaël Calvez, professor of public law at Cergy-Pontoise. Currently, dual citizenship does not prevent access to positions in the public service.

For so-called sensitive positions, “civil service rules apply. In certain cases you must be French or European. Certain positions, for example in the intelligence services (but only) are subject to verification at different levels (secret/top secret, etc.), where your pedigree is checked,” a government source explained to AFP.

Have we seen this before?

We would have to go back to the 1930s to find the introduction of restrictions on naturalized people. At that time, Frenchmen born abroad and acquired citizenship later were prohibited from entering the medical profession, becoming a lawyer, or serving as a ministerial official for ten years after naturalization.

“The goal was to prevent Jewish doctors or Jewish lawyers from practicing in France. At the time, this was an openly anti-Semitic measure. And this continued under Vichy,” notes Serge Slama, professor of public law at the University of Grenoble-Alpes.

During the Liberation these laws largely disappeared. The right to vote and to certain public service positions for naturalized citizens would remain temporarily prohibited until the 1970s.

Is it possible to implement this principle?

There must be a constitutional overhaul, law professors say: “Targeting those with other nationalities is completely unconstitutional,” according to Gwenaëlle Calvez and Serge Slama. According to the latter, this measure, which violates the principle of equality, opens up the possibility of “an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights or the Council of State.”

Another pitfall noted by experts: In many countries you cannot renounce your citizenship, but France “cannot order other countries to change the way they change their citizenship,” insists Gwenaël Calvez. In many countries where there is a very strict blood law, such as the Maghreb, it is not possible to renounce your citizenship.

In the United States, too, the mere fact of being born on American soil gives you citizenship, and it is impossible to avoid this, they note, they are called “accidental Americans.”

Moreover, you may be binational without even knowing it. “Nowhere is it written that you are binational” and “there is no control body,” notes Serge Slama, for whom RN’s proposal is “completely impractical.”

“If you cannot access a government job, it means you are less French than others,” notes Gwenaëlle Calvez, who fears that if this question were asked in a referendum, as RN has been mentioning for some time, it “ would destroy France.” , social structure and give rise to violent discussions about who is more French.”