Emmanuel Macron said he “decided to put an end to the French Council of the Muslim Faith” (CFCM), a body for dialogue between the State and the Muslim faith since 2003, by receiving Thursday, February 16, the members of the Forum de l’islam de France (Forif), new forum for discussion.
“Previous instances had limitations that I have already had occasion to name. There was a dialogue that existed, there were real advances. I don’t want to underestimate what had been done, for example, with the CFCM,” said the head of state.
“But the state very often also discussed with other states, within the framework of a form of afterglow, not simply diplomatic but which also involved a whole story from which it was necessary to gradually come out,” he continued, adding :
“That is why we have decided to end the CFCM. Very clearly. And to his business.”
Powerful internal disputes
Historical interlocutor of the public authorities from 2003, the CFCM, composed of federations attached to the countries of origin (Morocco, Algeria, Turkey, etc.), has experienced strong internal disputes in recent years.
In December 2021, the executive decided to no longer consider it as an interlocutor and preferred Forif – a body composed of actors in the field appointed by the prefects – which met in plenary session on Thursday, after a year of existence, to deliver his first works.
After several months of blockage, the CFCM, amputated by several federations of mosques having left it, decided at the beginning of January to continue its existence. It holds a general meeting on Sunday, with the agenda of a possible modification of its statutes with an increased representation of the departments and a reduction in the weight of the federations constituting it.
Asked by the press about the words of the Head of State, the interim co-president of the CFCM, Ibrahim Alci, replied: “a CFCM does not dissolve like that”. The board is “going to meet” and “if they want to dissolve, it will dissolve,” he said, adding that it would then be a “democratic” process.
Asked if the CFCM could change its name, he answered, evasively: “We could, with the board of directors, record the end, yes”. He raised the possibility of a “rebirth of the CFCM, differently”, via “another association, another organization”, but did not give details. According to him, “Forif is not the replacement of CFCM”. The other co-president of the CFCM Mohammed Moussaoui, contacted by Agence France-Presse, could not be reached.
