The Grand Mosque Eyyub Sultan in Strasbourg on March 23, 2021. – G. Varela / 20 Minutes
Noting “the need to consolidate their financing plan”, the “project leaders” of the new Strasbourg mosque “withdrew their municipal subsidy request” on April 15, announced the mayor (EELV) of Strasbourg, Jeanne Barseghian, in a column published this Friday
by the Latest News from Alsace.
“I take note of this withdrawal and the City will therefore not pay in the state of subsidy for the continuation of the construction of the mosque”, writes Jeanne Barseghian.
A grant of 2.5 million euros
The mayor of the Alsatian capital recalls having “conditioned the payment of a subsidy on the confirmation by the association of its inclusion in the republican principles and on the presentation of a transparent and consolidated financing plan”.
The State and the ecological town hall had engaged in a standoff after the vote on March 22 by the municipal council of a deliberation recording the “principle” of a subsidy of more than 2.5 million euros intended for the construction site. the mosque, a project led by the Islamic Confederation Millî Görüs (CIMG) Est, an association of Turkish origin.
“Foreign interference”
This vote had aroused a strong reaction from the Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmanin, who had accused the mayor of financing “foreign interference”, in this case that of Turkey, in France. The minister criticized Millî Görüs in particular for not having signed the “Charter of the principles of Islam in France” in January.
The prefect of Bas-Rhin Josiane Chevalier had thus seized the administrative court at the beginning of April of the “litigious deliberation” of the municipal council of Strasbourg. For his part, Millî Görüs had rejected the “unfounded” accusations of allegiance to Ankara or of “separatism”.