France will no longer accept imams trained by foreign countries

French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin has announced in a letter that from 1 January 2024, France will no longer accept new imams trained and sent by other countries. This in a bid to reduce "foreign influence" on Islam in France.

This photograph shows the Grande Mosquee in Paris, on October 19, 2022. © LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP

That means by 1 April 2024, imams sent from other countries still present in France will not be able to remain under their current status.

Instead, they will have to change their status and a specific framework will be implemented to enable associations managing places of worship to recruit imams themselves, whom they will pay directly.

The measure aims to ensure that no imam is paid by a foreign state, of which he is a civil servant or public official.

🇫🇷 #France : À partir du 1er janvier, la France n'acceptera plus de nouveaux imams « détachés », envoyés par d'autres pays, selon le ministre de l'Intérieur Gérald #Darmanin, et ceux déjà présents devront changer de statut après le 1er avril 2024.#imam #islam pic.twitter.com/YZnqHmBHIE

— Leo.news (@leo__news) December 29, 2023

'Foreign influences'

In early 2020, President Emmanuel Macron announced his intention to put an end to the work of the 300 or so imams sent by various countries, including Algeria, Turkey, and Morocco, while at the same time increasing the number of imams trained in France.

Macron said the move was designed to combat "foreign influences" on Islam in France, including "Islamist separatism".

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The Interior Minister at the time, Christophe Castaner announced: "We are working on the end of seconded imams in 2024".

On the other hand, the arrival of "Ramadan imams" – the 300 or so chanters and reciters who travel to France during the holy month for Muslims – is not being called into question, according to the new letter.

Darmanin also called for an "increasing proportion" of imams practising in France to be "at least partially trained in France", and for their training to be "respectful of the laws and principles of the Republic".