France issues decree facilitating requirements for obtaining French citizenship

The French Interior Minister Manuel Valls signed on Thursday a decree facilitating the requirements to obtain a French citizenship, as an attempt to stop the decline in number of people acquiring the French passport.            

An official source said that the decree, expected several months ago, will modify the requirements that were "deliberately tightened" during President Nicolas Sarkozy's mandate which had lead to a decrease in the number of people acquiring French citizenship from 116 thousand in 2012 and 87 thousand in 2011.                         

Valls said that a requirement for new citizens to have permanent jobs before they are given a passport would be lifted.                            

He added that the administrative situation of a foreigner seeking French citizenship must be legal for at least five years instead of ten.                              

Valls said a requirement for new citizens to have the same ability to understand and speak French at the level expected of 15-year-old natives would be maintained, except those who are above 65 years old.                                   

He also stressed that candidates must support the core values of the French republic, in which he included the concepts of secularity and solidarity as well as the classic trio of liberty, equality and fraternity.