During a rare joint session of parliament on Monday — only the third meeting of its type since 1848 — French President François Hollande stressed that in light of the attacks in Paris, "France is at war."
"[The attacks are] an aggression against our country, against its values, against its youth, against its way of life," Hollande said, adding that the nation would need to be "pitiless" in its actions going forward. Hollande said 5,000 new jobs would be created in the police and security forces to control the border and fight terrorism; he also proposed stripping dual citizens convicted of terrorism of their French citizenship, even if they were born in France. Hollande additionally asked parliament to extend the current state of emergency by three months to continue house searches and arrests.
But even while expressing a renewed forcefulness in facing the terrorist threat, the French president maintained that Syrian refugees "are the victims of the same terrorist systems." "That's why we should welcome those who have a right to asylum," Hollande said.
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Finally, in resisting the "blackmail" of terrorism, Hollande insisted, "We must go on living. We must go on influencing the world [...] Terrorism will not destroy the Republic, because the Republic will destroy terrorism."
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