PARIS: France’s National Assembly on Tuesday passed a bill aimed at strengthening government oversight of mosques and religious schools and cracking down on other practices, from hate speech online to forced marriage, that the president Emmanuel Macron says they have their roots in Islamist separatism.
The proposed legislation passed the National Assembly, or lower house of Parliament, with a vote of 347-151, which garnered the support of lawmakers from the ranks of Mr. Macron, as well as other centrist parties. He is now addressing the Senate.
Macron and his supporters in Parliament have framed the bill in response to the spread of “Islamist separatism,” which the president describes as an ideology aimed at building a parallel society in France where religious norms nullify Civil laws. This ideology, says the Macron government, undermines the values of the French Republic – freedom, equality and fraternity – and secularism, strict French separation of religion and state.
The proposed legislation requires religious associations and mosques to declare foreign funding of more than 10,000 euros ($ 12,000) and sign a pledge to respect French Republican values in order to receive state subsidies. The bill will also make it easier for the government to close mosques, associations and schools that criticize Republican values.
The proposed legislation would make it a criminal offense for anyone, in the name of religious ideology or extremism, to put pressure on civil servants and public service providers to deviate from France’s secular values. According to his provisions, a man who refuses to allow a doctor to examine his wife could receive up to five years in prison and a fine of up to 75,000 euros.