On Thursday receiving Forif, a young body for dialogue with the Muslim faith, Emmanuel Macron welcomed the "concrete solutions" put forward on the organization of Islam in France but asked to "redouble our efforts" in particular on the question of financing.
"In one year, a lot of work has been carried out, with exemplary results", declared the Head of State during a meeting at the Elysée Palace marking the first anniversary of the Forum de l'islam de France (Forif).
This structure of about sixty members, made up of actors in the field appointed by the prefects (associations, religious, lawyers, members of civil society), was launched in February 2022 by the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin in the wake of President Macron's 2020 speech in Les Mureaux (Yvelines), where he set out his policy against radical Islam.
It allowed a "quality dialogue" with the State, resulting in "pragmatism" and "concrete solutions", estimated the president, congratulating himself on having put "an end to the French Council of the Muslim Worship (CFCM) l The previous forum for dialogue, which has not yet been dissolved, will meet next Sunday in a general assembly.
The forum, which has been working on four themes for a year, reported on its work, through the summaries of four spokespersons.
On the first theme - the security of places of worship and anti-Muslim acts - two practical guides have been produced. One of them details, for example, the possible procedures "to support the victims". The idea of an association capable of providing "legal and psychological advice" was mentioned.
Another group examined the project of creating a "national council of Muslim chaplaincy", which will have the prerogative of appointing national and regional chaplains (prisons, army, hospitals).
Forif has also worked with the French Banking Federation to overcome several difficulties encountered (closing of bank accounts, difficulties in depositing cash) by associations managing mosques.
Finally, a last group, which worked on the professionalization of imams, called on the public authorities to give them a "professional framework" (in labor law and social protection) and to help define a status.
Mr. Macron asked that these "concrete proposals" be translated, "in the coming months", in practice, by "acts", on the "legislative", "regulatory" and "organizational" level.
But above all he called for "redouble our efforts" to get out of "opaque mechanisms", "interference", often foreign and "games of influence" which exist "still on the ground" and which, according to him, harm the development of an "Islam of the Enlightenment" in France.
First by clarifying "funding", with "sustainability" and "transparency", this in "respect" for secularism, explained the Head of State, without going into detail on the avenues of work.
Then, "we have to certify university training, build a system of governance so that people whose competence is in the field will be able to say: this person is an imam, is not an imam", he added. .
Emmanuel Macron also said he wanted "greater transparency" in the financing of the pilgrimage to Mecca. Finally, he promised to "reinvest massively" in Islamic studies, by recreating chairs and doctoral positions.
"This is a page symbolically turned towards a new attempt at representativeness" of the Muslim faith, greeted Tareq Oubrou, imam of Bordeaux, at the exit. The Forif "is a place of reflection to achieve" concrete results, "it is a turning point and it must succeed", he said.
"We are moving forward on practical issues," said Kamel Kabtane, rector of the Lyon mosque. "It's up to the state to help us put them in place!" he said.
The head of state, however, did not mention the Fondation de l'islam de France (FIF), a secular foundation with an educational and cultural vocation, to which he had promised 10 million euros in Les Mureaux. Its president told AFP that he had only received 780,000 euros at this stage.
02/16/2023 19:37:42 - Paris (AFP) - © 2023 AFP
