An emergency procedure. Filed on Monday by the prefect of Isère, the appeal against the validation last week of the wearing of Burkini in the municipal swimming pools of Grenoble was examined this Wednesday by the administrative court of the city. And the latter therefore decided to suspend this secularism referral, a procedure created by the separatism law of August 24, 2021 allowing prefects to request the suspension of the execution of an act of a community which would “seriously undermine the principles secularism and neutrality of public services”. Result: the decision of the mayor of Grenoble Éric Piolle to authorize the Burkini is therefore suspended.
The principle of this request was announced by the prefecture on May 15, on the eve of the examination by the Grenoble city council of a new regulation in municipal swimming pools. The prefect then explained that he had received instructions from the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin relating to the seizure of the court in the event of the adoption of the new regulation.
The tenant of Place Beauvau considered in particular that the objective of this decision “is to give in to communitarian demands with religious aims (and that he) appears to contravene the principle of secularism laid down by the law of 1905 as well as the provisions of the law of August 24, 2021 confirming respect for the principles of the Republic”. However “the mayor, within the framework of his competences, if he must guarantee the religious freedom of his constituents, must also ensure compliance with these rules”, had indicated the prefecture.
Very lively debate
On May 16, the municipal council of Grenoble had thus painfully validated the authorization of the burkini in the municipal swimming pools of the city. After nearly six hours of sitting, 29 representatives voted in favor of the new rules of procedure for these public establishments, 27 “against” and three abstentions. The municipal opposition, which has also filed an appeal before this same administrative court, had indicated on Tuesday, according to The Dauphine Liberethat for its part it intended “in the event of rejection of the request (…) to develop all the other means of law which justify the suspension and the cancellation of this decision” during a hearing scheduled for May 31 next.
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More broadly, the lively debate around the Burkini has gone beyond the framework of the Isère city. A large part of the political class having condemned the provision wanted by Éric Piolle, criticized even in his own party Europe ecology the Greens or among the Insoumis. For his part, the mayor of Grenoble has always considered that this is a “non-subject”. He sees it as a way “to ensure equal access to public services, and the freedom to dress or undress, while respecting hygiene and safety”. Its new regulations also allow you to go topless in municipal swimming pools.
Éric Piolle had long promised that the subject, which has polarized the political class for several months, would be put back on the table after the presidential election and before the summer opening of municipal swimming pools in mid-June. In Rennes, the city changed its regulations in 2018 and the burkini has since been authorized in swimming pools, without causing the same controversy.
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