French president calls for an 'Islam of France'

French President Francois Hollande called for the creation of "an Islam of France" and the removal of foreign-trained extremist imams in a key speech Thursday on the challenges radical Islam poses to democracy.

Addressing the debate surrounding Islam following a summer of terror attacks and burkini bans, he stressed that French secularism was not at odds with the religion.

"Nothing in the idea of secularism is opposed to the practice of Islam in France, as long -- and that is the vital point -- as it complies with the law," Hollande said in Paris, stressing that secularism was "not a religion of the state that stands against all other religions."

"What we need to succeed in together is the creation of an Islam of France," Hollande said.

"The first decision consists of reintroducing a foundation for Islam, which relies on cultural, educational and social initiatives.

"The second will be to create a national association in order to obtain financing for the building of mosques and the training of imams. The republic cannot accept a situation where a majority of imams are trained abroad and sometimes don't speak our language."

France is under a state of emergency introduced after the ISIS terror attacks in Paris in November and extended following the Bastille Day terror attack in Nice.

 

Hollande: France shouldn't sacrifice civil liberties

French officials have spoken before of plans to clamp down on foreign-funded and -trained mosques amid fears around Islamic extremism following a string of ISIS-inspired attacks and with hundreds of French jihadists joining the terror group's ranks in the Middle East.

The atrocities include the killing of an elderly Catholic priest in his church near Rouen in July and the killing of a police commander and his partner in Magnanville a month earlier.

Hollande said that the core republican principle of the separation of church and state was conceived at a time when Muslims made up only a tiny proportion of the French population.

"The question is to know if the principles laid down more than a century ago remain relevant when Islam is the second religion of France," he said.

"The answer is yes, clearly yes. The vast majority of our Muslim compatriots demonstrate it every day."

Between 7% and 9% of France's population is Muslim, according to the CIA World Factbook.

He said that radical Islam had created "a fake state, led by real killers. It skews the Islamic religion to spread its hatred."

In a possible reference to the furor surrounding burkini bans in a number of French towns, enforced despite court rulings against them, Hollande said: "As long as I'm president, there will be no legislation of circumstance, be it inapplicable or unconstitutional."

He said the secular, democratic and pluralist values of the "French project" were admired by people throughout the world, and that the French should not lose their faith in those values nor sacrifice civil liberties in the face of the Islamist terror threat.

"Citizens of the world know that when you attack France, you are also attacking its liberty, its democracy, its culture and its way of life," he said.

"The danger would be that, faced with a challenge, France doubts itself, that it withdraws," he said. "How can one resist these attacks, build Europe, succeed in integration, if we do not believe in ourselves?"

 

No indication of re-election plans

Hollande said that France, which will hold presidential elections in 2017, faced crucial questions about its future, but he was adamant that "democracy will triumph."

"Having led, for more than four years, the fight of the republic against the deadly fanaticism, I have no doubt that the challenge has been painful," he said. "We have paid a heavy price. Two-hundred thirty-eight dead and many injured."

But he said, "Democracy will always be stronger."

Hollande, who is faring dismally in opinion polls, gave no indication as to whether he would seek a second term in the 2017 elections, a subject of heated speculation.

In recent speeches, Hollande appears to have indicated a desire to run again, but such plans have yet to be confirmed.