[War] France: ...And the Stick

[Daniel Garcia]

"France:  ...And the Stick"
President Zoé Ampère, French Republic
January 31, 2013


<In a car traveling back to the Élysée Palace after the speech in  
"The Carrot...">

"It was a good speech," Johann Arrau, Zoé's chief political advisor,  
said as they headed back to the center of Paris.  Zoé nodded.

"Even if it was only half the story," she sighed.  "What are things  
looking like in Parliament."

"Well, with the immigration legislation, the Ombudsman proposal  
should pass, and you should still have the political capital to keep  
pressing forward on the issue," Johann said, leafing through his no  
doubt thorough notes on who was likely to vote which way on what  
subject, who had agreed to what in exchange for what.  In this case,  
there was going to be a price for her heavy pushing on the  
reconciliation issue.

That's something of a lie, Zoé thought.  While she was very  
interested in reconciliation between the ethnic French majority and  
the multi-ethnic minorities of France, she also believed that France  
needed to tighten up her immigration laws.  It would make the  
ethnically French more comfortable, broaden her support for further  
reconciliation measures, and bring an end to policies that were born  
more out of French colonial era pride than rational consideration of  
what was best for France and what the French people wanted.

"Goddard wasn't happy though," Johann finally said, mentioning one of  
the more liberal members of the reconciliation movement.  Zoé was, at  
heart, a pragmatist and a moderate.  She deeply desired an end to the  
violence, discrimination, and pain of France's relationship with her  
minorities.  But that was a very different thing from opening the  
doors to a flood of immigration.  With the reconciliation movement  
now possessing some amount of political power, what had been subtle  
differences had grown considerably.

"I'm sure he wasn't," Zoé said.  "But our job is to do what's best  
for the current citizens of France.  Not necessarily for all  
mankind.  We represent the people of France, not the people of Africa."

"He'll start demonizing you if you aren't careful," Johann pointed  
out.  Zoé smiled.

"Well, only Nixon could go to China," Zoé said.  "And even if I'm not  
quite a Nixon, I came to office with more than just reconciliation on  
the agenda.  Rebuilding the economy and reemphasizing France's place  
in international politics are also priorities.  Goddard and his group  
can be inconsistent on those points."

Johann remained silent.  Zoé was one who, either out of habit or true  
belief, required some degree of ideological consistency.  It was an  
odd trait in a politician, but it led her in interesting directions,  
including the current immigration reform package.  Philosophically  
she was starting from the point of "What is best for France," and  
working from there.  She was keen to say in private that Goddard's  
group started from overly ambitious and idealistic points.  Johann  
thought the whole debate meaningless.  He was a political animal, and  
ideals were convenient in some situations, and no more valuable than  
that implied.

"Toyé doesn't think the legislation will go over well abroad," Johann  
finally commented, pointing out the Minister of Foreign Affairs'  
point.  Diplomacy was no Johann's strong point, but such statements,  
or the kind of thing that such statements warned of, could easily  
become political issues.

"Well, perhaps it's time for Africa to learn to care for its own  
people and stop playing the guilt card," Zoé said.  "At some point,  
the poor countries of the world will need to take care of their own  
people where they currently are instead of encourage them to migrate  
to Europe.  Fortunately, recent events are promising in that regard,  
and we'll be helping them along as long as they're helping themselves."

"If you say so, though if you're going to make that diplomatic  
doctrine it might be best to say so before it sounds like you're  
responding to critics," Johann said with a weak smile.

"Perhaps," Zoé said in thought before straightening.  "But not now.   
Not yet."

The pair sat in silence for a few moments.  Then they moved on to  
talking about other things.


ACTIONS:

1)  Tighten immigration requirements:
         - Highly educated (read PhD-level) immigrants basically can  
come in.
         - Expansive quotas will be set for those with specialized  
skills (e.g. the sciences), to be redetermined each year by the  
Ministry of the Interior (which will be in control of immigration  
related matters).
         - High school or equivalent education will be a requirement  
to be considered as an immigrant for those 18 or older.  Minors must  
be accompanied by an eligible adult.  There will again be quotas for  
this category, but they will be fairly small.

2)  Change naturalization procedure:
         - No tolerance for having broken any law, with a set limit  
on number of traffic violations.
         - At the end of 18 months of residency, immigrant should be  
conversant in French (e.g. they can be understood, not necessarily  
fluent).
         - Can only have four weeks of unemployment during the first  
six years of residency.  Only eight weeks of unemployment during the  
ten year naturalization period.  Employers must notify the Ministry  
of the Interior (or designated local representative [either a person  
or office] thereof) of the employment and end of employment of  
immigrant employees.
         - Naturalization after 10 years, given that they pass an  
examination on French language (must be more or less fluent, with  
high school competency in reading and writing), history, and government.

3)  Consolidate all immigration matters to an Immigration and  
Nationalization Agency (AIN), mostly run at the regional/prefect- 
level.  The AIN will coordinate closely with the gendarmme with  
regard to enforcement.

4)  Start a gendarmme campaign to find and deport illegal  
immigrants.  Those who meet the new requirements will face no penalty  
if they come forward and apply under the new rules.  However, they do  
risk being denied and thus deported.