Wearing the burkini "should be seen as social progress" according to Piolle

• The mayor of Grenoble, Eric Piolle spoke to

  20 Minutes on

  Tuesday, confirming that he was going to submit new swimming pool regulations at the municipal council meeting on May 16.

• The text aims to lift all the bans in force since 2012, including the wearing of the burkini in the pools.

• Accused of favoring radical Islamism, the ecologist replies that it is about equal access to public service.

Wearing a burkini in municipal swimming pools?

A “non-subject”, answers Eric Piolle.

The EELV mayor of Grenoble confided

this Tuesday, confirming that he wanted to modify the internal regulations of Grenoble swimming pools in order to lift the bans in force.

While Laurent Wauquiez, the LR president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, threatens to remove any subsidy if the measure is applied, the elected environmentalist believes that he is acting to promote equal access to public service.

Are you going to submit, during the municipal council of May 16, a deliberation concerning the authorization to wear the burkini in the municipal swimming pools of Grenoble?

Yes indeed.

At the next municipal council, we will propose a new swimming pool regulation which removes the strange prohibitions that were imposed ten years ago.

So you can come swim in the pools of Grenoble topless.

You can come with a covering jersey to protect yourself from the sun.

You can come with a covering jersey for other reasons.

It is equal access to public service.

This new regulation will come into force on June 1, that is to say just before the opening of the summer swimming pools.

Last summer, however, you deplored the burkini operations carried out by the Citizen Alliance.

Why this change?

They had broken the rules so we fined them.

I was responsive on it.

But in 2018, we had already had a first discussion on the subject [pool rules], in particular because of the heat wave and covering swimsuits which were prohibited at the pool.

We had also done work around gender equality, around the fact that there was no reason for women's breasts to have any status other than men's breasts in Grenoble swimming pools.

So here is.

Time has passed, there was the Covid, but we took over the file and we are going through it before the opening of the summer swimming pools.

The opposition and elected leftists have made it known that they are against this decision.

Some accuse you of favoring radical Islamism, what do you say to them?

I put the question back to them: what makes the “lepenisation” and the “zemmourisation” of minds such that we regard the way of dressing, of undressing, of women as a subject of identity?

It's not about identity, it's about access to public service.

This swimming pool regulation should be a non-subject.

About ten years ago, prohibitions were imposed, perhaps for fallacious reasons, which had no place in the law, since in swimming pools the only thing worth is health and safety.

Now, we remove these prohibitions and we return to the previous situation.

Again, this should be a non-subject and pass like a letter in the mail.

When you say "remove the prohibitions", does this also concern beach shorts which are not authorized in municipal swimming pools?

Wide shorts are prohibited for hygienic reasons, this will continue.

You make this decision for questions of secularism?

No, it's not a question of secularism.

In swimming pools, as in the street, there is no question of secularism.

We have the same legal and legal status.

Restrictions related to secularism are held in the school for students, for teachers and for public service agents.

They stand for civil servants and those who carry out a public service mission.

That's all.

For the rest, you can dress on the street as you wish.

There, you can come and swim in the swimming pools of Grenoble as you wish.

Aren't you afraid that this decision will create a stir in public opinion and among the inhabitants of Grenoble?

No, there will be no problem.

Everyone can meet.

It is the same when you are next to a person, you do not wonder what their sexual orientation is.

Or when you're walking down the street, you don't look to see if so-and-so is wearing pants or a dress.

This decision could come into force on June 1, eleven days before the legislative elections?

Is it for you to mark the coup politically?

No, the calendar is that of the opening of the swimming pools.

The “lepenisation of minds” is obviously dramatic and the government played with that.

Mr. Darmanin pointed out that he was shocked by the halal or kosher shelves in supermarkets.

Mr. Blanquer also played with clothing prohibitions by saying that "crop tops" should not be worn at school.

On “crop tops”, as on bare breasts, it would be better to educate the gaze of boys rather than impose restrictions on women.

For the rest, it's just a matter of equal access to public service.

Really, this change in swimming pool regulations should rather be seen as social progress.

Did Emmanuel Macron respond to the letter you sent him on Friday?

No, we didn't get an answer.

Similarly, we had no response when the government was asked to carry out a study on regulations in swimming pools.

It would be preferable for the subject to be tackled at the national level rather than for each municipal swimming pool to do it on its own.

He did not wish to do so for reasons that belong to him, but it is clear that there is a vagueness and confusion on the foundations of the Republic, on the law of 1905, on the law of 1901.

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Grenoble: Will Eric Piolle authorize the wearing of burkini in swimming pools?

The opposition is already reacting strongly

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Grenoble: The EELV town hall deplores the burkini operations carried out by the Alliance Citoyenne association

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• Burkinis

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• Eric Piolle

• Grenoble

• Isere

• Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes