Burkini: "There can be no question of secularism in swimming pools", considers the PS mayor of Rennes

Europe 1 with AFP 1:54 p.m., May 17, 2022

Nathalie Appéré, PS mayor of Rennes, where the burkini is not banned, said Tuesday that there could "be no question of secularism in swimming pools" where "the only rules that prevail are hygiene and safety".

"There can be no question of secularism when talking about swimming pools. The 1905 law concerning the separation of Church and State does not provide for a clothing policy. Secularism imposes the strictest neutrality on public services and its agents, never to users. It is the State which is secular, not the citizen", declares Nathalie Appéré, in an interview with the daily newspaper Ouest-France.

“Those who have an interest in hysterizing and instrumentalizing this debate are totally ignorant”

The Grenoble city council authorized Monday evening the wearing of the burkini in municipal swimming pools, at the heart of a controversy for weeks.

Contacted by AFP last week, the town hall of Rennes did not wish to communicate on this subject.

"Those who have an interest in hysterizing and instrumentalizing this debate are totally ignorant of the legal tradition as much as the letter of French law", adds Nathalie Appéré.

In Rennes, the regulations for municipal swimming pools, allowing men to wear swimming shorts, had been adopted unanimously by the municipal council in 2018, recalls Ouest-France.

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"It's not a problem"

"The lifeguards told us that the hunt for swimming shorts was becoming complicated, that they were having trouble enforcing the wearing of swimsuits", recalls Nathalie Appéré to the regional daily.

"The internal regulations were not particularly clear. We therefore included a recommendation (...) which explains that the outfit worn must be designed for swimming and exclusively for swimming. But we did not nothing modified, there is no authorization, no prohibition of anything”, specifies the elected official.

"The previous regulations did not prohibit this full swimsuit either," she adds, ensuring that this bathing suit was not controversial in Rennes.

"There are a few women in burkinis who go to the municipal swimming pools, as there are also a few triathletes and scuba divers with full swimsuits. This poses no problem. We must have received a letter from the town hall “, adds the mayor.