Gauthier Delomez
modified to
4:53 p.m., May 15, 2022
At the heart of a debate on the authorization of the port of the burkini in the municipal swimming pools of Grenoble, the ecological mayor Éric Piolle, who carries the measure, evoked his convictions at the microphone of Thierry Dagiral. “We want to change the swimming pool regulations in which discriminatory provisions were introduced ten years ago,” he said.
This is a subject that has ignited the town hall of Grenoble for a week. This Monday, a vote will be held to authorize or not the wearing of the burkini, a Muslim dress, in the municipal swimming pools of the prefecture of Isère. A project defended by the ecologist mayor Éric Piolle. Questioned by Thierry Dagiral on Sunday in Europe Midday Weekend, this one asserts that it is a “non-subject”. “The swimming pool regulations gave clothing prohibitions ten years ago. It’s not old and in fact, these prohibitions must be lifted just for the universal accessibility of public service”, he says on Europe 1 .
“It is also true for women to be able to bathe topless (…), it is also true for reasons of health, philosophical, political or religious convictions”, continues the mayor of Grenoble, comparing the status from the swimming pool to that of the street. “You dress as you are, it’s secularism”, continues Éric Piolle.
In compliance with the law of 1905, explains Piolle
The leader of the Grenoble majority relies on the law of separation of Church and State of 1905 to defend his project. “She says ‘freedom of conscience for all’, the State is neutral so it distances itself from religions, and everyone can express their worship”, he relates to Thierry Dagiral, underlining an important means for that “everyone can express his worship and that he does not undergo pressure, neither to prevent him from expressing his worship, nor to force it”.
“For us, it’s a non-subject,” adds Éric Piolle. “We are changing the swimming pool regulations in which discriminatory provisions were introduced ten years ago, it is not old”, continues the environmentalist mayor. “We remove them because we can do it, it costs nothing, and it is the universalism to which I am very attached: accessibility to all public services.”