In a rare joint meeting of the upper and lower houses of French parliament, President Francois Hollande said he plans to meet with his U.S. and Russian counterparts to discuss how best to destroy the Islamic State terrorist group.
Declaring ”France is at war,” Hollande says he wants the talks with presidents Obama and Putin to ”unify our strength and achieve a result that has been too long in coming.”
He calls for a ”union of all who can fight this terrorist army in a single coalition.”
Hollande, who declared a state of emergency after last Friday’s attacks in Paris, says a bill to extend it for three months will go to parliament Wednesday. He announced 5,000 more police officers will be hired the next two years along with 1,000 additional border officials.
The president also wants to change the country’s constitution so the French government can revoke the citizenship of convicted terrorists born in France who have dual citizenship.
A similar law came into effect here back in June, but Prime Minister Trudeau’s promised to review the anti-terror legislation.