The tone rises between Laurent Wauquiez and Eric Piolle. The president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region threatened the mayor of Grenoble to remove the region’s subsidies if the latter were to authorize the wearing of the burkini in the city’s municipal swimming pools.
As a reminder, Eric Piolle relaunched the controversy around the burkini by indicating that he was ready to discuss its wearing in municipal swimming pools.
Asked by Le Dauphine Libéré, the city councilor said he wanted to “look at the relevance of these prohibitions which do not advance and which do not respect freedom or not a religion”.
He added that this issue of the burkini “perpetuated the debate” and gave “leverage to political Islam which seeks to advance pawns, but also gives way to numerous discourses which badly conceal their anti-Muslim racism”.
A strong opposition
It was enough to make the opposition jump, to the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, through its president.
Indeed, on his Twitter account, Laurent Wauquiez initially shared a speech from last March, assuring that the region would not endorse “any communitarian drift on the part of the communities to which we give subsidies”.
Considering this possible authorization of the burkini as a drift, Laurent Wauquiez warned the mayor of Grenoble.
Therefore, if Eric Piolle were to authorize the burkini in municipal swimming pools, “the region will cut off all subsidies to the city of Grenoble”.
Mr. Piolle plans to allow the burkini in municipal swimming pools.
I warn the mayor: in this case, the Region will cut all subsidies to the city of Grenoble. Not a penny of the Auvergnats-Rhônalpins will finance your submission to Islamism. https://t.co/zrSQaC7OC1
— Laurent Wauquiez (@laurentwauquiez) May 2, 2022
This question of the burkini must still be discussed at the municipal council of the city of Grenoble, on May 16.