A specimen version of the new national identity card.

-

Ministry of the Interior

  • The new national identity cards, presented by the Minister Delegate in charge of Citizenship Marlène Schiappa on March 16, entered into force in the Oise for a first phase of experimentation. 

  • But the bilingualism of this card, where each mention written in French is jointly translated into English, enraged Senator (PS) Mickaël Vallet, for whom it would be an attack on the French Constitution. 

  • A version refuted by the specialist in constitutional law Michel Lascombe and the Ministry of the Interior, for whom it is clear that this use aims to facilitate travel within the European Union. 

The Minister Delegate in charge of Citizenship, Marlène Schiappa, inaugurated on March 16 the new French national identity card (CNi), which is being tested in the department of Oise.

France had until this summer to comply with the European regulation relating to the security of its identity documents.

The size of a bank card, this new CNI will include the fingerprints of its owner, a QR code, and an electronic chip supposed to facilitate the renewal of the identity document.

Another novelty is that each of the mentions visible on the card will be written in French and English.

And it is this bilingualism that makes people talk on the Internet and in the political sphere.

The new national identity card in a bilingual French-English version?


I enter the Ministry of @ Interieur_Gouv to be reassured ... or not?


The globish ravage is right about many things.


Even the self-esteem of our governments.


Cc: @languesFR @FredericSays pic.twitter.com/kk0ICL0Bpg

- Mickaël Vallet (@mickaelvallet) March 19, 2021

"A document like the national identity card must not include elements in a foreign language", indignant the senator PS of Charentes Maritimes, Mickaël Vallet in a press release published on his Twitter account.

With

Sud-Ouest

, he adds that "this device is not explicitly provided for by the decree of March 13, 2020" relating to the new card, and that such an important symbol "cannot make English appear at the same level. than French, which remains the official language of the Republic under Article 2 of the Constitution ”.

FAKE OFF

This article of the Constitution, which deals with the sovereignty of the country, is clear: “The language of the Republic is French.

But can we therefore consider that the appearance of mentions relating to the identity of a person in two languages, French and English, is for all that an infringement of the Constitution?

"It's misplaced chauvinism," says Michel Lascombe.

For this now retired specialist in constitutional law, the appearance of English together with French on an identity document is not an infringement of the Constitution.

It even seems rather logical to him: “To travel in Europe, you only need your identity card, so it is clear that here, the use of English is intended to facilitate checks in the area. 'Schengen area ".

"A travel document within the European Union"

For the constitutional expert, this bilingualism would even be in accordance with the European Union regulation of June 20, 2019, according to which "the title of the document should also appear in at least one other additional official language of the institutions of the Union".

Michel Lascombe thus recalls that, according to a decision of the Council of State, community treaties, like those ratified by the European Union, prevail over the law or the Constitution of one of these countries.

A version confirmed by the press service of the Home Office, which specifies at 

20 Minutes 

that "English is, and remains, an official language of the institutions of the European Union, even though the United Kingdom has left it. 'Union.

And that the identity card becomes a travel document within the latter, which supposes that its mentions are included in the greatest number of countries ”.

It should also be remembered that the passport has seen its mentions appear in French and English for a long time, without anyone worrying about the disappearance of the French language.

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