Goodbye French Council of the Muslim Worship, hello Forum of Islam of France (Forif). If the change had already been initiated in December 2021, when the executive began to snub the first to set up the second as a body for dialogue between the State and the Muslim faith, Emmanuel Macron definitely wants to turn the page. “We have decided to end the CFCM. Very clearly. And to its activity, ”he announced when he received the members of Forif this Thursday.
“Previous instances had limitations that I have already had the opportunity 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,” declared the Head of State. “But the State very often also discussed with other States, within the framework of a form of remanence, not simply diplomatic but which also embarked on a whole story from which it was necessary to gradually get out”, he justified.
Troubled history at the CFCM
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 him 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 blocking, 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.
“The Forif is not the replacement of the CFCM”
Asked by the press about the words of the Head of State, the interim co-president of the CFCM, Ibrahim Alci, invited to the meeting at the Elysée Palace, replied: “A CFCM does not dissolve like that”. The board of directors “will meet” and “if it wants to dissolve, it will dissolve”, he said, specifying that it would then be a “democratic” process.
Asked whether the CFCM could change its name, he replied, evasively: “We could, with the board of directors, record the end, yes”. He mentioned 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 a replacement for CFCM”.