France’s government praised, Friday, a reported bid by British Prime Minister’s father to take up French nationality, noting that it shows how Britons are attached to the European Union which they are no longer part of.
Reports that Stanley Johnson, the father of Boris Johnson, has the urge to keep a foot in Europe by taking up French citizenship made headlines.
On his part, France’s minister for European affairs Clement Beaune described the citizenship application as emblematic of enduring British sentiment for Europe.
“If Mr Johnson’s father has a right to French nationality, wants to remain a European citizen and become a French citizen, then we will examine that,” Beaune said. “To me, this is a wink, or a sign, that lots of British people, in different ways, still love Europe.”
“There are many people in the United Kingdom for whom this is also a sad day,” he added.
The elder Johnson is a former member of the European Parliament, who supported remaining in the EU in Britain’s 2016 membership referendum.
The French nationality would give the elder Johnson the automatic rights that other Britons have now lost, including the ability to travel and live freely in all of the 27 EU countries.
He told broadcaster RTL on Thursday that he was in the process of “reclaiming” his French identity.
“It is not a question of becoming French. If I understand correctly, I am French. My mother was born in France. Her mother was completely French, as was her grandfather,” he said. “So for me it is a question of reclaiming what I already have.”
“I will always be European. That is certain,” the former member of the European Parliament asserted. “You cannot tell the English: ‘You are not European’. Europe is always more than the common market, more than the European Union.”
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