The Assemblée Nationale (French Lower House) approved on Thursday the lengthening of the State of Emergency, declared by the French government in the wake of the Paris attacks last Friday. A lengthening of the State of Emergency will last for 3 months, and grants the police extended powers, requires parliament to approve any extension, and has only been enacted 3 times in French history.

It is clear of course to see why the French feel this is a necessary step to combat the tragic events of Friday night. With 129 killed and over 350 injured, the attack on Friday led to the most deaths the city has seen since the Second World War. Prime Minister Manuel Valls declared after the parliamentary vote “It’s the response of a strong France, which does not bend and will never bend”. In using the powers granted to them since Friday, the French police have made over 400 house searches, and have arrested more than 60 house arrests, found 75 weapons, and have imposed over 110 house arrests. The clause has also been widened to allow police to place people under house-arrest for their “behaviours or their acquaintances, their comments or projects”. The French Parliament also approved this year a law to enhance the powers of the intelligence services, particularly in the area of intercepting communications. President François Hollande has also approved the recruitment of 5,000 new police officers, 2,500 judicial investigators and 1,000 customs officers. Plans to cut the size of the French military have also been abandoned.

This is only one part of the French government’s response to Friday’s attacks. In the Middle East, the French have stepped up their bombing campaign on IS, and at the European level, the French have advocated for a integration of European intelligence agencies, the strengthening of the Schengen Area’s external borders, and the sharing of passenger flight data with security & law enforcement agencies – something that has been blocked in the European Parliament for 8 years. Monika Holmeier, EPP Group MEP and leader of the home affairs committee of the Parliament struck out against liberals and centre-leftists, saying “For them there is no lesson to be drawn from the Paris attacks”. Meanwhile, in terms of strengthening borders, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve has pushed for the blanket systematic registering of all EU citizens entering the Schengen Zone.

The Price of Freedom

The scary thing here is the serious parallels to be drawn with what happened in the United States after September 11th. A quote from Manuel Valls really sends shivers down the spines of anyone who believes in personal privacy as a right of individuals from the state: “We’re enlarging the possibility to use it, not just for proven dangerous activities, but also for threats stemming from serious suspicions”. It’s not just the fact that the Prime Minister now wants to be able to declare people guilty before committing the crime, but also that people’s personal freedoms are being infringed upon. According to euronews, the Prefets (local state representatives) will have extended powers to impose curfews, ban people from staying in towns or cities, and provisionally close public gatherings. They will also be allowed to dissolve organisations. Of course, this all comes under the caveat of these gatherings, organisations or individuals potentially “inciting, facilitating, or participating in actions threatening public order” as well as “frustrating the actions of the state in any way”. Is it only me who finds this scary? The firs time this was imposed, France was embroiled in a colonial war over Algeria’s independence, and that was in 1955 – human rights have come a long way since then. In 2005, the State of Emergency was only declared in some parts of France where there was rioting, and that did not last 3 months.

Nikolas Busse summed it up well in his article in the FAZ on Thursday, in which he wrote “Frankreich ist erschüttert”; France is shocked. Terrified you might say. Something which IS was very keen to do. And it seems they have won. Because for 3 months, France has chosen to set aside the powers behind many of its civil rights, which are at the very core of European democracy. Ask Americans; giving up those rights in times of fear is not the way to stand up to terrorism. It is not the way just way, not the democratic way and it is not the European way. We must be stronger than this. The tragedy of Friday did not take place simply for us to give up the very rights and freedoms they died in the name of. The very values Europe represents. IS had two goals in Friday. To turn Europeans against their Muslim minorities, and to change and impact our everyday lives. Yes, we must act to stand against terrorism. Yes, we must go and bring to justice those who would see innocent people dead in the name of their own twisted beliefs. But not in the way that means giving up who we are. It was on Panorama that the ex head of French foreign intelligence  said “We could prevent a lot of them, but not all of them. In an open society like ours, I think it’s impossible”. In an open society like ours. That is who we are.

There was a rose placed through one of the bullet holes in the window of one of the restaurants attacked on Friday. A note attached to it said “au nom de quoi” – in the name of what? It was done in the name of the enormous fear they have of people having freedoms like we do. We cannot allow ourselves to lose them now.

Sources: FT, FAZ, France 24, Euronews, Panorama