Paris (AFP)
The president (ex-LR) of the Hauts-de-France region Xavier Bertrand, received Tuesday in Beauvau to present his tracks of fight against the communitarian lists, considered that it would undoubtedly be necessary to "touch the Constitution" as regards secularism.
"I think that it will be necessary when the moment comes to touch the Constitution" because at the time of its adoption "in 1958 laïcité did not have the same importance as today", affirmed at the end of the interview Mr. Bertrand, for whom it is necessary in particular to "detail what is in equality between men and women".
Bertrand and the patron of the senators LR Bruno Retailleau, who deposited Friday a proposal of law to fight against the communitarian lists, were received by the Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner, his Secretary of State Laurent Nunez and the Minister of Justice Nicole Belloubet.
All "shared the diagnosis of a diversion of Islam by some for political purposes", whose communitarian lists are "one of the manifestations" even if "they will likely be few," it was said in Beauvau, stating that the government intended "to conduct a comprehensive policy against Islamism and the withdrawal of the community."
The executive does not plan to ban community lists that want to compete in the municipal elections of March 2020, said late October the entourage of Prime Minister Philippe Philippe to AFP.
For Mr. Retailleau "the legislator must have the courage to draw boundaries" in terms of "prohibition of funding of political parties" and "nominations of communitarian lists", while the prefects have today "very little means ".
"A circular yes" but "the law is indispensable," said Bertrand, who refuted the "anecdotal" nature of the lists communalists, even if the Union of French Muslim Democrats (UDMF) has only 29,000 votes to the Europeans in May.
"We expect what, there is 290,000? That there are 2.9 million? (...) Behind, we are not naive that we face us, it is the political Islam, "he said, launching:" we do not want the issue of these lists to become the soap opera for these municipal elections "because" there are some who are waiting for that ".
He called the parties "an additional commitment" to "not welcome on their lists any candidate who would be on this separatism, on this communitarianism".
For his part the MP for Essonne (LR) Robin Reda has proposed to sign "a Charter of secularism to unmask community lists in the municipal elections of March 2020".
© 2019 AFP