It was a promise from Emmanuel Macron, announced during a speech in Mulhouse (Haut-Rhin) in February 2020 then confirmed in another speech in Mureaux (Yvelines) in October of the same year. To fight against Islamist separatism, France has decided to no longer welcome seconded imams, that is to say foreign imams financed by other countries, from 1is January 2024. A measure which, a year later, is still slowly being implemented.
There were some 300 imams sent and paid until then by different countries, after bilateral agreements signed in the 1980s to compensate for the lack of ministers of Muslim religion in France. These officials from foreign states mainly came from Türkiye (around 150), Algeria (120) and Morocco (30) and represented around 10% of imams in France.
Since 1is January 2024, these foreign imams have the right to stay in France but have had to change their status. They can no longer be civil servants in their country of origin and must be employees of a French association if they wish to continue working. For the Ministry of the Interior, questioned by The Worldit was about breaking up “a link of subordination” which could exist with a foreign power. Completion of a university diploma on secularism and mastery of the French language are also required.
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