PARIS — French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron said late Tuesday he felt “philosophically uncomfortable” with the idea of stripping convicted terrorists of their nationality, in a fresh public disagreement with his boss.
“I am, on a personal level, philosophically uncomfortable with the importance this debate has taken,” Macron told the France-Israel foundation. “One does not treat the evil (terrorism) by expelling it from the national community; we need to prevent and punish.”
The statement appeared to contradict the government’s line on nationality stripping — adding fuel to talk of a rivalry between Macron and Prime Minister Manuel Valls, just as a cabinet reshuffle shapes up.
The Socialist government is under fire over its plan to strip French nationality from convicted terrorists with dual citizenship. It wants to change the Constitution, in a largely symbolic gesture, to punish terrorists in the wake of the November 13 attacks in Paris.
This mechanism exists in other European countries, but critics on the French right and left say it would create second-class citizens. Valls and President François Hollande are sticking to their guns and pushing parliament to pass the reform.
Asked about Macron’s statement, Valls told reporters that the minister did, in fact, support the measure.
“Everyone [in government], Macron and the others, supports this measure,” he said. “There can be no other way.”
Hours later, Macron sought to play down the spat by telling French media that he supported the constitutional reform project, and President François Hollande.
“My deepest wish is that this reform is carried out, as the President of the Republic wanted, because I am loyal to the president,” he told iTELE, adding that he nevertheless felt the debate had taken on too much importance.
But the prime minister’s statement was the latest in a series of public rebukes targeted at Macron, a minister 15 years younger than Valls, more popular and rumored to be mulling a presidential bid in 2017.
Macron previously prompted Valls’ irritation over comments he made about the status of civil servants and France’s 35-hour work week — and most recently over his intrusion into France’s taxi-Uber war.
The economy minister has denied that he plans to leave the government. But his public disagreement with Valls echoed a similar spat with former justice minister Christiane Taubira, who resigned last month over the nationality stripping issue, saying she could not support the move.
Leftist critics of the Hollande government — including those who have been kicked out — rejoiced at Macron’s criticism, hinting that he could soon join them.
“In the past, several of us expressed doubts about the executive’s policies, and every time the result was an expulsion, not from the national community but from the governmental community,” former culture minister Aurelie Filippetti told France Info radio. “We’ll see what happens in Macron’s case.”
An unnamed Valls loyalist lashed out at the young minister, saying he would “cut the balls of that little s***,” according to Le Figaro daily.