- The new Minister of Citizenship, Marlène Schiappa, wants to create a new charter of secularism, which must be signed by all associations receiving public funding.
- This new charter will be inspired by the text made compulsory for associations financed by the former Secretary of State responsible for equality between women and men and also other initiatives throughout France.
- Associations wonder about the purpose of this text, in a context, according to family planning, where secularism is "misguided" and where it sometimes serves to "stigmatize" some, according to Family Planning.
A charter of secularism, on the model among others of that created by Marlène Schiappa in the previous government, will have to be signed by all the associations requesting public funding, according to our information. This charter will apply to all types of associations, whether they are sports, humanitarian, leisure or cultural associations.
“In the bill on separatism, we will extend this charter to all associations, in the fields of sport, city policy, etc. So that we can not finance an association that practices segregation between girls and boys, ”explains during an interview at 20 Minutes the new Minister Delegate in charge of Citizenship, Marlène Schiappa.
"Evaluate what worked"
This new charter will be inspired by the text drafted by the Observatory of Secularism for the State Secretariat in charge of equality between women and men, which was unveiled to the 1,300 associations subsidized by its services in mid-October 2019. The idea was then to "clarify" the principles relating to secularism to associations and to reassure part of the public worried that we could finance "community associations in the field of women's rights which would promote a form of cultural relativism ”, explained the Secretary of State.
The new charter will also synthesize many other charters already experienced in the territory, explains a source in the entourage of the office of the Minister Delegate to the Minister of the Interior. "It will not be the same text but the same philosophy", explains this source, for which it is already necessary "to evaluate what worked".
"Why insist so much? "
The subject of secularism within associations is an explosive subject, as experienced by Family Planning, accused at the end of 2019 in an article by Marianne of having wanted to “withdraw secularism from its charter” (therefore its own charter). At stake according to the magazine: the subsidy of 272,000 euros allocated to the association, which the Secretary of State could have withdrawn from them. "There was never any question of removing secularism, it was simply exchanges and debates that we had already had", wishes to rectify Sarah Durocher, national co-president of Family Planning.
If the text of the current charter, which the association must provide signed with each request for subsidies, was not "complicated to sign" for Family Planning, which "defends" the law of 1905, the approach of Marlène Schiappa surprised at the time and still questions today. "The question is" in what spirit was it made? ". I would like to be able to understand what makes us release this charter now. There is a recurring stigmatization of certain people in the name of secularism, ”wonders the co-president. "Why insist so much? We cannot forget that we are in a French context with sometimes instrumentalization and the use of misguided secularism ”, abounds Lydie Porée, another person in charge of Planning.
"Balanced" text
“We are putting more and more clauses, it is already something that has come into practice. They will just put it more forward, ”also laments Jawad Bachare, director of the CCIF. “As soon as there are economic problems, we put this issue forward to make them forget. It is a communication strategy to the detriment of the economic and social question, ”adds the director. The question of "separatism" according to the term of the government has however been in the pipes of the executive since the end of 2017, and it was the subject of a speech by Emmanuel Macron in February 2020.
A secularist and feminist specialist who had followed the subject of the charter of the former Secretary of State for Gender Equality, Anaïs Leleu considers the existing text "balanced". "It is the idea that no one can take advantage of his philosophical, political or in this case religious convictions to oppose a differential treatment to someone or to derogate from the laws of the Republic," she explains. From the moment when it is a question of public money, it would be problematic to subsidize structures which derogate from these values and principles ”.
Politics
Law against separatism: "The idea is to counter groups organized in a violent manner vis-à-vis the Republic", announces Schiappa
- Association
- Religion
- Marlene Schiappa
- Secularism