Macron’s solution, which even advisers admit is flawed, was to introduce a new anti-terrorism bill that reproduces most of the important features of the state of emergency. Passed into law on Tuesday, it has been the subject of some of the sharpest debate between MPs since Macron took power. It’s easy to understand why: The law expands police powers considerably, and permanently, ensuring the continuation of practices that both Amnesty and Human Rights Watch have denounced as discriminatory against France’s Muslim population.
So now Macron faces another challenge, this one political in nature, but no less risky: He will become known as an authoritarian president who is willing to sacrifice the rights of some citizens in order to avoid being seen as weak. [...]
Stated in numerical terms, the threat is even plainer: Since January, France has suffered no fewer than 11 terrorist incidents related to radical Islam, including a shooting on the Champs Elysées in Paris three days before the presidential election. [...]
Under Macron’s laws, the quick-and-easy raids denounced by rights groups will be included in police forces’ regular toolkit. Officers will be able to “visit” — raid — and question individuals suspected of terrorist activity for up to four hours, without having to consult a judge beforehand. In such cases, no warrant is required, and the definition of what stands for “terrorist activity” is vague enough to cover just about anyone. [...]
But such an extension must be approved by all EU member countries as well as the European Parliament. The effect, critics say, is that France is destroying the spirit of Schengen, since a three-year exception is tantamount to a permanent one, and will only encourage other states more hostile to immigration, such as Hungary, to break European travel laws unilaterally, invoking terrorism.
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