No, they are grandfathered in. France is a member of G7, G20, OECD, etc. Can Nigeria, for example, just decide to join these groups? What does France need BRICS for? They are influential in global affairs already, BRICS is for developing countries to push their interests. Today you let in France, tomorrow Sweden will want to join and before you know it the US would have infiltrated it and then you'll have BRICS members forcing others to to comply to western interests. No thanks. If France wants to develop and strengthen bilateral ties then fine, otherwise let's keep BRICS for strictly for developing countries.