French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin has announced a new statute to “regulate” the activity of imams in France and “fight against the stereotype” that Islam “is a religion of foreigners, for foreigners and financed by foreigners”.
Darmanin said he wanted to respond to a request from the Muslim community and imams, who today “do not receive adequate remuneration”. “There is still a lot of work to be done to ensure that (Muslim) believers in France have religious leaders who are better trained, decently paid and fully integrated into French society,” he added.
“60% of Muslims in France were born in France and it is a French religion like any other,” he pointed out during a speech at the French Forum of Islam (FORIF).
In his speech, he recalled that since taking office he has closed “radicalised” places of worship where Islam “had been diverted for political purposes”.
And he promised to double to one million euros a year the funds earmarked for the protection of mosques. He also denounced that in 2023, “anti-Muslim acts” increased by 30% (to 242) and that “more than half” of these acts were committed in the last three months, “which shows that the conflict in the Middle East has obvious resonances” in France.
Is Islam compatible with French society?
The French believe there are too many foreigners in the country (63 per cent), say France is “not like it used to be” (64 per cent) or declare that immigrants do not make enough effort to integrate in France (66 per cent), according to an Ipsos poll published before the last presidential elections.
Islam also receives veiled criticism from the majority of French people. Seventy-three per cent believe that Islamic communities try to impose their social model on others, while only 43 per cent consider the Muslim religion to be “compatible” with the values of French society.
