France: controlling the funding of places of worship, a thorny subject
In the mosque of Fréjus, at the time of prayer.
DR
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
Emmanuel Macron presented on October 2 his action plan to fight separatism in France.
Among the stated objectives, "liberate Islam in France from foreign influences" by training imams and controlling the funding of places of worship.
The question is far from new.
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With his
action plan against separatism
, President Emmanuel Macron is pursuing an unfinished business of establishing transparency in foreign financial flows to French mosques.
If the Muslim worship in France is above all financed by donations from the faithful, the concern around foreign flows
is in fact regularly brought to the fore.
The French state cannot subsidize worship under the 1905 law on secularism.
Whether for the construction and maintenance of mosques or the training of imams, the money comes in part from Algeria and Morocco, the countries of origin of many French people, but also from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and from Turkey.
In 2016, a parliamentary report estimated this funding from States at around ten million euros per year.
Status change
But there is also sometimes the contribution of wealthy individuals, the amount of which cannot be known exactly.
The opacity is also due to the legal status of mosques.
They are mainly managed by cultural associations under the 1901 law because they very often provide services such as support courses, libraries, etc.
The State would like to encourage them to switch to the status of religious association 1905 to allow better control.
In exchange for tax advantages, they would in fact be required to provide strict and transparent accounting audited by an expert.
► To read also: France: the financing of Islam, the equation that Cazeneuve seeks to solve
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