Share

Hollande says France at war against ‘cowards’, not ‘civilizations’

Speaking a day after launching a massive airstrike against the Islamic State’s stronghold in Raqqa, Syria, French President Francois Hollande has declared that the nation is at war against ISIS, and that France will utterly destroy the extremist group. Russian Federation is not part of the coalition, and Moscow’s forces are instead fighting in support of Syrian President Bashar Assad, an opponent of the U.S.

Advertisement

Hollande said the amendments are necessary so the state doesn’t have to “resort to the state of emergency” to deal with terror threats.

There were 19 nationalities among the 129 victims of the deadly attack that took place on Friday night in Paris and its suburbs, French President Francois announced on Monday.

“Terrorism will not destroy France, because France will destroy it”, he said.

MPs from all parties gave him a standing ovation and sang the Marseillaise national anthem.

Additional security spending would be needed and France would not let European Union budget rules to get in the way, Hollande said.

He said he would invoke a mutual defence clause in the EU’s Lisbon treaty, which requires member states to give each other assistance if they come under attack.

Turning to measures within France, he said he would ask parliament to consider extending a state of emergency by three months.

Hollande said that French law should be changed so that dual nationals would be stripped of their French citizenship if they were convicted of terrorism and dual nationals to be banned from entering France if they presented a “terrorism risk”.

“Our constitution clearly provides the legal tools to cope with any situation”, Mr Jacob told lawmakers after Mr Hollande had left the chamber. It is a procedure reserved for constitutional revisions and major presidential speeches.

Advertisement

The last time a French President spoke to both houses in Versaille was in 2009 when Nicolas Sarkozy addressed the global financial crisis.

France Declares War Second Air Strikes On Syria Launched As WW3 Feared