In an interview, the deputy for Val-d'Oise, Francois Pupponi, former mayor of Sarcelles and author of “The Emirates of the Republic”, assessed Macron's proposal.
Pupponi believes that political Islam is gaining ground in France. Radical Islam, of course, is also happening. However, local authorities cannot influence the situation without the support of the state, said the former mayor. Furthermore, many politicians are gaining the political support of Muslims of different persuasions and rely on them preserve their seats in cities, which exacerbates the problem of “Islamist separatism”.
Sputnik: What do you think of the president's statements regarding “Islamist separatism"?
Francois Pupponi: So far, I believe the president is on the right track. I think he understands what is going on. It's a good thing he decided to act. The track is right but we will see what happens next.
Sputnik: How real is Political Islam? How do Islamists seize power, particularly in residential neighbourhoods?
Francois Pupponi: Yes, Political Islam is real; it just started to take shape. You can clearly see how things are going at the local level. So we have to act before it finally consolidates its position. And this is happening through public organisations that are being created and beginning to operate in the educational, social and cultural spheres. Furthermore, more schools and sports clubs of these sort are being opened.
Several non-governmental organisations, associated with radical Islam and Political Islam, are doing their job. They try to be everywhere simultaneously to try to participate in political life. They only follow the model adopted worldwide in terms of political and radical Islam. There is nothing new in this. These are their usual methods.
Sputnik: You were the mayor of Sarcelles. What instruments does the mayor have to address these public organisations?
Francois Pupponi: Virtually none. Legally, you can't ban them. The mayor can't do much if there's no support from the state and if the state isn't helping him. The President of the [French] Republic said that it is necessary to have a closer look at financing from abroad: if the state or local authorities do not fund mosques to some extent, then who will do that? There will come a time when the following problem will arise: we will have to reckon with the French Muslims who want to have places of worship. This problem will have to be solved. It is possible to continue doing what is being done today, that is, to finance it quietly, secretly. Or we decide to do it officially.
Sputnik: To fight Islamism also means to fight against people's elected representatives, such as Jean-Christophe Lagarde, who are accused of having relations with Islamists. It is a very difficult task during an election period, isn't it?
Francois Pupponi: There is no doubt that some of the people's elected representatives made a deal with local authorities. Sooner or later, we will have to deal with it at the national level. But it is very difficult because these NGOs are legal. It is necessary to fight either by political means or by legal instruments. In any case, something has to be done. Indeed, there are people's representatives, whose Islamo-leftism I criticised, who are making a deal with them.
In some regions, some candidates negotiate with circles linked to either Radical Islamism or Political Islam in order to win elections in a given city. This happens all the time and everywhere. Some do it voluntarily, some are naive, but these kinds of things happen all the time in such places. You are approached either by local authorities or by people from circles that you know, or from circles that you do not know but that are connected with Radical Islam. This is the fate of the people's elected representatives in these districts and it happens every day.
Sputnik: In your opinion, do the communitarian lists of candidates in municipal elections present a danger?
Francois Pupponi: There are no such lists, actually. There are people's representatives, who are actually communitarians, who will reveal their true faces later. And during the election, they will keep it quiet; they would camouflage themselves as something else.
