end the right of the children of illegal immigrants born in the country to gain citizenship. Jean-Francois Cope, the leader of the main opposition party, the UMP, wants to do away with the ancient concept of jus soli, or right of the soil. It means that a child born in France to non-French parents can acquire citizenship at birth if at least one parent was born in France. Even if this criteria is not met, parents can petition for French nationality for children born on French soil from age 13 if the child has lived in France at least five years. In Britain, one of a babys parents has to be a UK citizen, or legally settled in the country, for the child to gain citizenship. Germany is another country which does not offer immediate legal rights to someone simply because they were born on German territory. Mr Cope wants France to have similar restrictions because of the amount of illegal immigrants flooding into the country and having children. Thousands of them are Roma gypsies who live in makeshift camps on the edge of major cities like Paris, often in large families. Last week the deportation of a 15-year-old Roma schoolgirl along with her parents and five siblings put immigration right back at the top of the political agenda. Mr Cope, a protege of former conservative president Nicolas Sarkozy, said he would introduce a new parliamentary bill to cancel automatic nationality for children of illegal immigrants by the end of the year.
Posted on: Sat, 23 Nov 2013 23:41:37 +0000
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