Skirting the Law: A Mosque for Montreuil
Both Le Salon Beige and Yves Daoudal have reports on the decision by the administrative appeals court of Versailles to allow a mosque to be built in Montreuil. The original court decision in 2007 banning the construction came about as a result of a suit brought by the MNR (National Republican Movement), the right-wing political party led by Bruno Mégret, who has since retired from politics. That decision has now been overturned:
” (...) the annual rent of one symbolic euro cannot be considered, in the circumstances, as a disguised subsidy. (...) The constitutional principal of laïcité, which implies the neutrality of the State and collective territories (...) and equal treatment for all religions, does not in itself rule out the granting, in the general interest, of certain types of assistance for activities or equipment connected to religions.”
The municipality will become the owner of the building at the end of the long-term 99-year lease that it signed with the association representing the mosque. This means that in 2107 the municipality will be responsible for most of the maintenance costs of the mosque. That is the case today with the churches built before 1905.
The law on laïcité was passed in 1905. After that date church financing was in the hands of the parish. With the coming of Islam to France clever and devious loopholes have been found to allow the State to subsidize the building of mosques.
(...) This decision, contrary in its essence to preceding judgments by several administrative tribunals, contrary as well to the jurisprudence of the Council of State, constitutes through its interpretation of the law a highly favorable advantage for the Muslim religion; for the MNR it now opens the path to all abuses and pressures from Islamic associations that henceforth will not desist from seeking land in every municipality of France (...)
Not only did the court reject the suit brought by Patricia Vayssière, of the MNR, but it fined her 1000 euros. This sum corresponds to a thousand years of rent! The elected officials have been duly warned: do not touch Islam!