In Metz, justice cancels a municipal subsidy of 490,000 euros for the development of the longer term nice mosque | EUROtoday

The Strasbourg administrative court docket canceled, on Tuesday, December 30, a subsidy of 490,000 euros voted in July by the Metz municipal council for the development of the longer term giant mosque of this metropolis, which ought to accommodate as much as 4,000 worshipers throughout giant gatherings.

The undertaking, began in 2021 and primarily financed by donations from the trustworthy, is estimated at greater than 15 million euros. Seized by three activists from the Union of Secular Families (UFAL) who contested the municipal subsidy of Metz, the court docket thought-about that the general public utility of the undertaking had not been established.

In Alsace-Moselle, the regulation of 1905 on secularism doesn’t apply and the Concordat (which dates again to the start of the nineteenth^e century) continues to be energetic. If Islam shouldn’t be one of many religions formally acknowledged by the authorities on this framework, this faith can subsequently obtain public funds.

However, justice dominated on Tuesday, “to be able to grant a subsidy to a religious association, the municipality must demonstrate that this subsidy meets a local need”. However, town definitely argued that “insufficient capacity” of present locations of Muslim worship, however didn’t present “no quantified element, nor inventory” to show it, in response to the court docket.

“Under these conditions, and taking into account the substantial amount of the subsidy”, “the existence of a local public interest” shouldn’t be “not established”he concluded.

Fifteen school rooms

UFAL “welcomes this decision”she reacted in a press launch. The affiliation “will ensure its full execution, in particular by ensuring that public funds unduly received by the great mosque of Metz are returned to the municipality”she added.

The mayor of Metz, François Grosdidier (ex-Les Républicains), conversely, criticized a call which “seems above ground”. On attraction, he assured, he’ll deliver the ” evidence “ that a big mosque is critical “at least every Friday of the year and every day of the month of Ramadan”.

For him, “the current conditions offered in Metz for the practice of Muslim worship do not meet the needs”. He practices “in unworthy conditions for its practitioners and unbearable for local residents”he added.

In addition to the place of worship itself, the undertaking offers for a middle “educational and cultural”with 15 school rooms supposed for educating Arabic and the Koran, in addition to a gymnasium and a hammam.