France mulls ‘indefinite’ state of emergency as report outlines attack financing

The French state of emergency could be extended indefinitely, a draft law seen by AFP on Thursday seems to suggest.

While proposed changes to France's constitution do not stipulate a time limit, a draft change to the constitution says exceptional measures taken during a state of emergency could be prolonged "for a maximum period of six months" after the original state of emergency was declared.

The state of emergency, which gives the state more power to clamp down on media and protests, was enacted on 13 November after the Paris attacks and subsequently extended for three months.  The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the massacre. 

The report comes shortly after the French state on Thursday said the Paris attack, in which 130 people were killed, cost just 30,000 euros ($30,000) to organise.

The attackers financed the assault by amassing several "tiny sums" which are hard to track, notably by using prepaid credit cards, Finance Minister Michel Sapin told a news conference.

"The cost of these latest attacks, the financing of the attacks, represents a sum not exceeding 30,000 euros," Sapin said.

On Thursday, Belgium police charged two new suspects in connection with attacks last month, the prosecutor's office, bringing to eight the number of people held in the case in Belgium and France.

"Two other suspects have been charged," an office spokesman told AFP, confirming reports that the two had been arrested on Sunday. 

The French finance ministry's intelligence unit, Tracfin, said prepaid cards - some bought in Belgium - were used to pay for cars and apartments used by the assailants in the 48 hours preceding the attacks.

Sapin said tracking even small sums could turn out to be "crucial", if such data were cross-referenced with other parts of any investigation.

As part of efforts to improve surveillance of funds potentially used in future attack plans, France is to give Tracfin easier access to suspects' files.