The French government is preparing legislation empowering it to deport “radicalized foreigners” more easily, even if it means breaking the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
Enforced by the European Court of Human Rights – technically not a European Union institution, although prospective EU members are all required to submit to it – the ECHR makes it difficult to deport even the most dangerous criminals if they have local relatives or might face the death penalty or other strict punishments in their home countries.
France’s Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin is now asking why France should keep such foreigners “when they can also cause death in our country,” however, emphasizing that his main function is protecting the French population.
“I think the French people… find that it makes sense that someone given a ten-year jail sentence for terrorist activities can be expelled because they are very dangerous,” he explained.
Unlike Britain’s governing Conservative (Tory) Party, which has long suggested it might break with the European Court of Human Rights but never followed through, the Frenchman indicated he will follow a more simple approach and simply deport foreign criminals without waiting for the court to rule.
“We used to wait until we had the opinion [of the European Court of Human Rights] even if that meant keeping extremely dangerous people on our soil. Now we don’t wait. We expel and we wait to see what the court is going to say. The consequence of that is indeed a fine,” he said.
