The Council of State will issue its decision on Thursday on the wearing of the hijab in women’s football, a prospect that has sparked an avalanche of political reactions, with the right and the far right calling on the government to legislate to ban religious symbols in sport. .
The decision of the high court will be faster than expected. On Monday, the Hijabeuses collective had challenged article 1 of the regulations of the French Football Federation (FFF) prohibiting “any wearing of a sign or outfit ostensibly showing political, philosophical, religious or trade union affiliation”.
And the public rapporteur, who says the law and whose opinion is generally followed, went in their direction during the hearing. According to him, the FFF must modify its regulations.
“The hijab in sport is no! And we will make a law to enforce that”, reacted Tuesday Marine Le Pen, the president of the deputies Rassemblemnt national (RN).
“It takes the naivety of a rapporteur for the Council of State to write that there is no proselytism, that there is no provocation in wearing the veil to play football”, if is indignant about the boss of the deputies Les Républicains Olivier Marleix, who challenged the Prime Minister during questions to the government at the National Assembly.
“I am totally mobilized with the Minister of Sports Amélie Oudéa-Castéra for the strict respect of our republican principles in sport, in particular secularism and the neutrality of public service”, soberly replied Elisabeth Borne.
Without saying whether it would be necessary to legislate in sport and at school to ban the Islamic headscarf, she assured that the government would “strengthen controls at the start of the school year” and would not hesitate to close clubs which promote “an ideology radical or separatist”.
In front of the press, the Minister of Sports went a little further. “We’re not ruling anything out,” including a “change in the law,” she said. “We see that there is a need for clarification”.
– “Strike” –
For his part, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin said he was “very opposed” to the highest French administrative court giving reason to the collective. He denounced “community associations” which, according to him, want to give “a blow against the Republic”.
“The Council of State is an extremely wise body. I deeply hope for the Republic that they will maintain neutrality on sports grounds,” he added on RTL.
Gérald Darmanin is however accused by the right of having retreated in the past when it came to banning religious symbols in sport. Twice, in 2021 and 2022 during the examinations of the separatism law carried by the Minister of the Interior and of a law on sport, the government and the majority had prevented the adoption of amendments from the right voted by the Senate.
Olivier Marleix regretted that the administrative body is “faithful to what was its attitude in 1989”, when the question of wearing the Islamic headscarf at school was imposed in the public debate. “The legislator had to come to it,” he recalled, about the 2004 law prohibiting the wearing of conspicuous religious symbols in schools.
Asked Monday, Founé Diawara, president of the collective Les Hijabeuses, had regretted on the contrary that there are “women who, every weekend, are excluded from the fields because they wear a veil”.
With the current regulations of the FFF, players wearing the veil must “give up any competition and any career”, they are “excluded”, noted the public rapporteur before the Council of State.
If his opinion were followed, the federation would have to modify its regulations. International body of football, Fifa authorizes since 2014 the players to evolve in international competition with their veil.
On the left of the political spectrum, the coordinator of France insoumise (LFI), Manuel Bompard, swept away the indignation of the right. “There are people who are tired of being permanently stigmatized because they want to be able to practice their religion within the law,” he told reporters.
Gérald Darmanin “points the finger at Muslims” and makes himself “Marine Le Pen’s minister”, denounced the head of the LFI deputies Mathilde Panot.
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06/27/2023 19:38:00 – Paris (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
