"Being French is a will." During an October 2016 rally in Montpellier, Emmanuel Macron said that "you can be born thousands of miles away" and still feel French. "France is not a fixed identity," the then-future president went on, echoing the republican tradition of inclusive citizenship. In his view, political leaders who promote "anxiety-provoking rhetoric" and "untruths" are committing "an historic error: No, France is not threatened with extinction."

Less than a decade later, Macron's government has changed its tune, so much so that on January 27, Prime Minister François Bayrou borrowed deceased far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen's words on TV channel LCI to describe a "feeling of submersion" and "rejection" of immigrants. Eleven days later, he called for a wide-ranging debate on "what it means to be French," without waiting for the 2027 presidential election.

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