2023-06-28 02:03:11
The Council of State will have to decide. The highest administrative court in France must take a position on whether or not to authorize the Islamic veil, also called hijab, in football matches in the country after the favorable opinion of its public rapporteur issued on Monday. His decision is expected by mid-July. Explanations of the stakes of this controversial subject.
What is this FFF regulation that is found at the Council of State?
This is article 1 of the FFF. Since 2016, it prohibits “any wearing of a sign or outfit ostensibly manifesting a political, philosophical, religious or trade union affiliation”. A text which, in theory, prevents players from wearing the hijab during official football matches, even if in fact, some matches are played with veiled players, as our investigation within the Paris-Ile League showed. of France.
It is this article 1, also used by the federation to prohibit breaks to break Ramadan during matches, which is targeted by a militant group, “the Hijabeuses”. “Our fight is not political, not religious, it concerns sport and only sport”, assures its president, Founé Diawara. In November 2021, the group summoned the FFF before the Council of State to force it to modify this point of the regulations and to follow Fifa.
“What is sought is the importation into football of community demands”, indignant Loïc Poupot, the lawyer for the instance. The latter refuses, as it stands, to change this text. It should be noted that this modification would not concern, in the eyes of the public rapporteur, the players selected for the France team. Under the tricolor jersey, they would be required to observe neutrality because they would ensure “a public service mission”.
What the law says ?
In fact, the law is currently limited to requiring religious neutrality from employees and agents working for the delegated federations of a public service, not to its practitioners. “No standard of domestic law restricts the freedom of religion or belief within associative activities”, explained in February 2022 to our newspaper Michel Pautot, lawyer at the Marseille bar and doctor of law.
Each federation is therefore free to frame the outfits authorized by its players in the matches. But the subject was debated a year and a half ago in the Senate and the National Assembly. The deputies, then in an absolute majority with the government, had rejected in February 2022 a Senate amendment, acquired by the Les Républicains party, banning the veil in competitive sport. A similar amendment had already met the same fate the previous year during the examination by the two chambers of the text on separatism. The deputy (LR) of the Alpes-Maritimes Éric Ciotti had denounced “a submission” of the majority to Islamism the second time.
What can be done in other sports?
It all depends on internal regulations. The French Basketball Federation (FFBB) prohibits the veil but in a roundabout way, since federal regulations prohibit the wearing of any headgear during matches. In January 2023, Salimata Sylla, player of the club of Aubervilliers (Seine-Saint-Denis) in National 3 had denounced in an interview granted to Parisian-Today in France this text which prevents her from evolving with her hijab in competition.
VIDEO. “I felt humiliated”: basketball player for ten years, Salimata was excluded from the field because of her veil
Rugby players have the right to wear the hijab during matches “provided that it does not constitute a danger for the wearer or the other players”. The former second line of the XV of France Assa Koïta had thus been able to wear one under his helmet, especially with the Stade Français. No restrictions for handball on this plan, provided that it is not worn around the neck for safety reasons. The French tennis federation simply requires the wearing of “clothing compatible with the practice” of this sport. Judo also tolerates the wearing of the veil.
At the international level, the texts are flexible. In addition to Fifa, the international basketball federation has authorized the wearing of the hijab in competition since 2017. Athletes lined up for the Olympics can also compete with a hijab.
How is the French political world positioned?
The opinion of the public rapporteur of the Council of State has led to many political reactions since Monday. “The hijab in sport is NO! And we will make a law to enforce that, ”announced the boss of the National Rally (RN) deputies and former presidential candidate, Marine Le Pen, on Twitter. “We are dealing with an offensive by certain numbers of Islamist ideological schools on our territory”, denounced Tuesday morning on CNews the RN mayor of Perpignan, Louis Aliot.
Still on Twitter, MP (LR) Éric Ciotti recalled his opposition to the authorization of the hijab in sport by recalling the rejection of his 2021 amendment. “We are now suffering the consequences! exclaims the chosen one. Even within the ranks of the majority, opinions have diverged according to political sensitivities in recent years. In February 2022, the now ex-Minister for Gender Equality Elisabeth Moreno believed that “women have the right to wear the Islamic veil to play”.
But Tuesday morning, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said he was “very opposed” to wearing the hijab in competition. “You don’t have to wear religious clothes when you play sports,” said the tenant of Place Beauvau on RTL. When you play football, you don’t have to know the religion of the person in front of you. »
“I am totally mobilized with the Minister of Sports Amélie Oudéa-Castéra for the strict respect of our republican principles in sport, in particular secularism and the neutrality of public service”, declared Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne before the court. National Assembly, during the session of questions to the government on Tuesday. From there to legislate on the subject?
“We are not excluding anything,” said Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra. I want to see the heart of this decision (and) from there what we need to evolve in our law. »
And now, what will happen?
The Council of State, supposed to decide within three weeks, must make its decision Thursday according to AFP. In the vast majority of cases, the latter follows the opinion of the public rapporteur, but nothing obliges him to do so. The subject is “important”, estimated this one, Clément Malverti, during the hearing and the decision of the Council of State will be followed closely, he launched. He also warned of the “risk” that some later try to “extend” the headscarf ban to other public spaces.
Refusing to “declare victory” too quickly, the lawyer of the collective “Les Hijabeuses”, Me Marion Ogier, welcomed the conclusions of the public rapporteur, “which go in our direction”. She hoped that the Council of State, in taking its decision, would make “law, nothing but law” without letting itself be influenced by “politics”.
In the event of a green light from the court, the FFF would be required to change its rules since the decisions of the Council of State are not subject to any appeal. And we could then attend, at the start of the school year, the first official matches with players authorized to wear the veil.
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