The day after Emmanuel Macron's trip to Mulhouse on the sensitive subject of "Islamist separatism", the president of the Republicans Christian Jacob reacts.
On Tuesday, the head of state announced the end of the Teachings of Language and Culture of Origin (Elco), the end of imams posted by foreign countries and increased control of foreign funding of mosques. Are you applauding?
CHRISTIAN JACOB. We are on a communication sequence, as often with Emmanuel Macron. Admittedly, the announcements on Elco and the detached imams go in the right direction, although that on the imams is not calibrated in time. But it is absolutely not commensurate with the situation we are in. Despite Mr. Macron's denial, we have nearly 150 identified neighborhoods where the Republic is under attack. Out of these 150 neighborhoods, exceptional measures are needed: bringing together the police, gendarmerie, justice, fiscal controls, social controls, national education. I propose a five-year plan with progress reports each year before the National Assembly.
There are already neighborhoods that are the subject of specific action in the fight against radicalization and community withdrawal…
The reality is that the means are not there. There are 3,400 foreigners listed in the file for the prevention of terrorist radicalization (FSPRT). What are they still doing in France? We have to kick them all out.
Emmanuel Macron nevertheless recalled that the state was closing radical mosques and drinking establishments linked to this movement…
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The subject deserves to be understood on a different level than the closing of a few convenience stores! There are a hundred radical mosques in France. But only a dozen have been closed. It is totally insufficient. Wherever there are preachers of hatred, they must be condemned and the premises closed.
On Tuesday, the president said he was uncomfortable with the term "communitarianism" and spoke of "multiple identities" within the French nation. What do you think ?
Three years of Emmanuel Macron to have a debate on semantics! We have the right to expect something else. We don't need a French teacher or a theater actor! We need a president who acts as president and who understands what has made France strong in history: the primacy of the national community and the rejection of communitarianism.
The deputy LR Guillaume Larrivé was moved by the photo where we see a woman wearing the full veil, a few centimeters from the president in Mulhouse. And you ?
Yes, it shocks me. Emmanuel Macron has not taken the measure of what is happening today with political and radicalized Islam. He does not have the experience that any elected official. It is clear that this is a lack in its political construction and its ability to react.
Bruno Retailleau made proposals on communitarianism, like Xavier Bertrand. François Baroin, he will release a book on secularism. Aren't you afraid of a Lépine contest on the right?
No, we have always been solid on this subject. For six or seven years, Eric Ciotti has tabled several legislative proposals. François Baroin is at the origin of the law of 2004 on the prohibition of the veil at school, Jean-François Copé in 2010 of the law on the prohibition of the burqa. If we react so much today, it is because there is a president who does not act. It is not only him besides. Where's the Prime Minister? We don't hear it.
Is it possible to fight against communitarianism without stigmatizing a section of the French population?
Yes, the development of political Islam, communitarianism and fanaticism has nothing to do with the thousands of French people who practice Muslim worship and who are also sometimes in the neighborhoods the first victims of fanatics.
