France will no longer accept new "seconded imams" from 1 January

Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: Ludovic MARIN / AFP 20:52 p.m., December 29, 2023

France will no longer accept new imams "seconded", that is to say sent by other countries, from January 1, said Friday the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin in a letter to the countries concerned by the subject. After April 1, 2024, seconded imams still present in the country will not be able to remain there "under this status", he added in the letter, which AFP has seen.

At the beginning of 2020, Emmanuel Macron announced his desire to end the reception of some 300 imams sent by various countries (Algeria, Turkey, Morocco...), and to increase in parallel the number of imams trained in France. "We are working on the end of seconded imams in 2024," said the then Minister of the Interior, Christophe Castaner.

The coming of "Ramadan imams" is not in question

Recalling this three-year "notice", to give mosques and states time to organise themselves, Gérald Darmanin insisted on Friday on the timetable: the decision "will effectively apply from January 1, 2024". This means concretely that from this date, France "will no longer accept new seconded imams". As for those who are already there, they will have to change their status: from 1 April, a "specific framework" will be put in place to allow associations managing places of worship to recruit imams themselves, whom they will pay directly.

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The aim is not to prevent foreign imams from preaching in France, but to ensure that none is paid by a foreign state of which he is a civil servant or public official. On the other hand, the arrival of "imams of Ramadan", these some 300 chanters and reciters who go to France during the month blessed for Muslims, is it "not questioned", according to this missive. At the same time, emphasis is placed on the need for a "growing share" of imams officiating in the territory to be, "at least partially, trained in France".

Supporting imams' access to university training

This presupposes the development of training and the State wants to be "attentive" to ensuring that an offer "respectful of the laws and principles of the Republic" is rapidly expanded. Beyond religious training, it is also a question of supporting imams' access to university training, such as those launched in 2023 by the French Institute of Islamology for example. Determined to fight against "Islamist separatism", Emmanuel Macron announced in February 2020 a series of measures against "foreign influences" on Islam in France, ranging from seconded imams to the financing of mosques.

To better organize Muslim worship, a Forum de l'Islam de France (Forif) was also launched in February 2022, with actors on the ground supposed to better represent the country's second religion. But this body is struggling to impose itself in the fragmented landscape of Islam in France.