Clemency with Islamism against the backdrop of the French election campaign. On the occasion of the creation of the inter-ministerial committee on secularism this week and the adoption of the “separatism” law by the National Assembly on Thursday July 22, Marlène Schiappa, the minister in charge of citizenship, did not spare Eric Piolle, the mayor of Grenoble and candidate in the Europe écologie les verts (EELV) primary. The minister pointed to the incidents in Grenoble. “There was already an action on the burkini, the mayor did not react,” the minister attacked on CNews. “He had been waiting for my reaction in the media, only to say a few days later that he didn’t know what to do and that after all it was a form of freedom on the part of these people.”
Marlène Schiappa does not mince words when it comes to holding Eric Piolle to his responsibility. “It is the Mayor’s in charge. Mr Piolle wants to run for president of the Republic in the primaries,” the minister told CNews. She added: “He doesn’t know how to enforce the rules of his municipal swimming pool and he wants to be President of the Republic, guarantor of the institutions. It’s quite funny…”
On the other hand, she tried to defend the government’s mixed balance against “those people who want to introduce such a new set of laws”. Within the framework of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Secularism, “about twenty very concrete measures […]” will be implemented, such as “extending the principle of secularism and religious neutrality to the representatives of the public service (…) we will also train 100 % of public servants by 2024 (…) and also the creation of a day of secularism on December 9”, she explained.
In addition, “in future, all associations will have to ratify a contract of republican commitment if they want to be eligible for grants from public funds”, the minister promised. The government thus wants to position itself in a very governmental way, which it has often lacked so far. But will these measures, coming at the end of the president’s term, be enough?