Laura Laplaud
modified to
9:23 a.m., December 8, 2023
“An attack on secularism”, “a historic and irreparable fault”… This Thursday evening, at the Élysée, the Chief Rabbi of France Haïm Korsia lit a candle on the occasion of the Jewish festival of Hanouka, in presence of Emmanuel Macron. Many left-wing elected officials have denounced a sequence contrary to secularism. Has the Head of State violated the principle of secularism and in particular the 1905 law on the separation of Church and State in France? For Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister of Energy Transition, guest of La Grande interview Europe 1-CNews this Friday, “we are escalating vain controversies”.
“A controversy out of step with the reality of the facts”
“I’m going to put the i’s back on track. It’s a controversy that is out of step with the reality of the facts. There is absolutely no ambiguity about the fight of the president and the government on secularism. I remind you that it is this government which has banned the wearing of the abaya at school or which, again in recent weeks, has banned associations which undermine secularism,” she declared.
A sequence all the more shocking for some since Emmanuel Macron did not participate in the march against anti-Semitism. “I believe that we are trying to make things out of proportion while the position of the government and the President of the Republic is very clear. We support secularism, we fight against all forms of intolerance against all communities in our country , whatever their religion, whether Muslims, Jews, Catholics or non-believers,” she insisted.
“We must become a nation”
“Obviously it is an attack on secularism,” argued Raquel Garrido at the microphone of Europe 1. The MP for La France insoumise believes “that this is not the first time that there has been an attack on the part of of the Élysée. “He must be the president of all French people and as such, strictly respect what the secular framework is and therefore never lend himself to any religious celebration, whatever it may be,” assured the First Secretary. of the Socialist Party, Olivier Faure.
For the Minister of Energy Transition, “it is very unpleasant to see political oppositions throw themselves at the world like misery to try to point out an ambiguity when we must form a nation, we must be united and we must show that nothing will pass and especially not attacks on secularism.”
On social networks, the sequence also shocked many Internet users who they consider contrary to secularism. “These images make me uncomfortable”, “they are harmfully confusing and reek of cronyism”, “you will have to explain to me why the Christmas nativity scene is problematic in administrations if we can go and light the candles Hanouka at the Élysée”, they indicated on X (ex-Twitter).