French citizenship row engulfs Indian Ocean island of Mayotte - BBC News

The island of Mayotte becomes the latest battleground in France over the laws on immigration.

1 day agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Residents on Mayotte have been setting up roadblocks to protest against living conditions and insecurityBy Hugh SchofieldBBC News, ParísA speck of France in the Indian Ocean has become the latest battleground over the laws on immigration.

A French possession since 1841, the tiny island of Mayotte is now a département or county of the Republic which means, in theory, that the same rules apply there as in the Moselle or Maine-et-Loire, or anywhere else in France.

But the territory's difficult experience of mass immigration is pushing President Emmanuel Macron's government to abandon the sacrosanct French principle of equality for all.

Visiting the island at the weekend, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced that the automatic right to French citizenship by virtue of birth on the island is to be rescinded.

A constitutional change to this effect is now to be pursued by the government. Crucially the end of "birthplace citizenship" would apply only to the island of Mayotte - not to France as a whole.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-68292604

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