![\"France](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1387079_092838_updates.jpg\")
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The French government has publicly defended its decision to grant citizenship to George and Amal Clooney after criticism from some political figures.<\/p>\n
In a statement issued Dec. 31, France\u2019s Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs said the couple completed the same formal process required of all applicants.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Officials confirmed the Clooneys underwent security checks, regulatory interviews at the prefecture, and paid the required tax fees before being naturalized.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are delighted, like many French people, to welcome George and Amal Clooney into the national community,\u201d the ministry said.<\/p>\n
The statement followed remarks from junior interior minister Marie-Pierre Vedrenne, who questioned the optics of the decision during a radio interview, suggesting it raised concerns about fairness and potential double standards in France\u2019s naturalization system.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While she acknowledged Clooney\u2019s ties to France, she said authorities must be mindful of the message such decisions send.<\/p>\n
Interior Minister Laurent Nu\u00f1ez pushed back, confirming the Clooneys were naturalized by decree and describing the move as \u201ca great opportunity for our country.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to French media, the process was initiated following a recommendation from the foreign affairs ministry.<\/p>\n
The news also drew a reaction from U.S. President Donald Trump, who commented on social media. Clooney later responded with a statement referencing the upcoming U.S. midterm elections.<\/p>\n
George and Amal Clooney have lived part-time in France since purchasing an estate there in 2021, alongside properties in England, Italy and the United States.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The French government has publicly defended its decision to grant citizenship to George and Amal Clooney after criticism…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":670676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[2000,299,36],"class_list":{"0":"post-670675","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-france"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115829963960749599","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/670676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}