The municipal deliberation which granted in March 2021 a subsidy of more than 2.5 million euros to the construction of an imposing mosque had been controversial.
by Stéphanie Wenger (Strasbourg, correspondence)
Is this the end of a politico-religious soap operator only possible in concordatory land? This Thursday, November 10, the Strasbourg administrative court canceled the deliberation of the city’s municipal council, which had granted on March 22, 2021 a subsidy of 2.5 million euros to a mosque project in the Meinau district.
The Eyyûb Sultan mosque, administered by the cult association Milli Görüs, by European law but which has its origins in Turkey, was already under construction, over an area of more than 5,000 m 2 .
In Alsace-Moselle, unlike the rest of France, cults can obtain public subsidies for the construction of religious buildings. It is one of the provisions of the Napoleonic Concordat which was not abolished in these territories in 1905 – they were then under German domination – nor later after the return of the territories to France.
“Loss loss Ankara’s support “
Islam is not a religion recognized by the text – as are Protestantism, Catholicism and Judaism -, but for the sake of equity, the city of Strasbourg extended in the late 1990s Possibility of subsidies from places of worship, to Muslims. The Great Mosque of Strasbourg was thus able to see 10 % of the cost of its work.
“When construction started, Milli Görüs did not want public funding. At the time the federation was close to political power in Turkey, explained to the world Samim Akgönül, head of the Turkish Studies Department at the University of Strasbourg, in March 2021. The loss of the support of Ankara ended in a lack of donations and the construction was stopped. “
It is then that the association turns to the city. The project is gigantic, the complex will host a mosque plus a cultural center. The 10 % brought by the city represent an invoice of 2.5 million euros. By way of comparison, the Great Mosque of Strasbourg benefited from a municipal subsidy of 868,000 euros. Size difference: the subsidy request had been granted, then, before the start of the work. 2>
Stopping the municipality
When the Municipal Council of Strasbourg, dominated by environmentalists, voted the subsidy, the controversy was lively, in Alsace and beyond.
At the time the Ministry of the Interior tried to impose its “Charter of Principles” of Islam in France and Milli Görüs is one of the organizations which refuses to sign the text. The Eyyûb Sultan file tenses the spirits, while the separatism law is planned – it will be adopted in the summer of 2021. Opposition elected officials as well as the prefect of the Bas -Rhin intend an appeal to administrative justice.
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