War on terror

France at War

The proposals briskly reeled off by Le Pen include reviving compulsory military service and a national guard (the latter not seen since 1872), revoking the citizenship of jihadists with dual nationality—as the Netherlands parliament voted to do in May—ending free movement within Europe, raising military expenditure, lengthening prison sentences for radicals, and making it much harder for foreigners to acquire French citizenship.

These ideas are not new. But their reiteration two days after Nice, and following an opinion poll commissioned by the Figaro newspaper that found that 67 percent of the population no longer has confidence in the government’s ability to fight terrorism, laid before us the Fortress France that the majority of this bruised, angry nation—again, the opinion polls concur on this—currently want.