REACTION
Xavier Bertrand does not want "the question of the community lists to become the soap opera of the municipal elections". Received on Tuesday Beauvau Square by the Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner, his Secretary of State Laurent Nuñez and Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet, the President (formerly LR) of the region Hauts-de-France presented its tracks for to fight against this problem. He was accompanied by the patron of Senators Republicans Bruno Retailleau, who tabled a bill on Friday on the subject.
The state plans a circular for prefects
"Prevention is better than cure, and it is possible to act now," said Xavier Bertrand. But if all the interlocutors "shared the diagnosis of a diversion of Islam by some for political ends", they disagree on how to proceed. The government intends "to conduct a comprehensive policy against Islamism and the withdrawal of the community," said the Interior Ministry. And if the executive does not plan to ban community lists that want to compete in the municipal elections of March 2020, as indicated at the end of October the entourage of Prime Minister Philippe Edouard to AFP, he is ready to move forward on "the question of a circular prefects," says the president of the region Hauts-de-France.
Xavier Bertrand hopes for a law
But "the circular, without a law, it will not work," Judge Xavier Bertrand. "Some will want to submit lists, but others will also seek to impose candidates on the lists" according to the elected, which refutes the "anecdotal" nature of the community lists, even if the Union of French Muslim Democrats (UDMF) made only 29,000 votes in the European elections in May. "It's not naive that we have in front of us, it's political Islam," he said. "Candidates who want what: impose slots reserved in the pools" or "open the question of menus served in canteens," developed the president of the Hauts-de-France region. At the same time, he calls on the parties to "make an additional commitment" in view of the 2020 municipal elections, so as not to welcome any candidate who would be on this separatism, on this communitarianism ".
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If the law is "indispensable", according to Xavier Bertrand, this should entail, "when the time comes, to touch on the Constitution", because for the elected, when it was adopted "in 1958, secularism did not have the same importance today. " In particular, it is necessary to "detail what is in gender equality", he continued. For his part, the MP for Essonne (LR) Robin Reda has proposed to sign a "charter of secularism to unmask the community lists in the municipal elections of March 2020".