The Council of State considered that there was a “willingness on the part of the city of Grenoble to explicitly authorize the burkini against the general rule which is to prohibit clothes that are not tight”, explains Patrice Spinosi.
Article written by
Published
Reading time : 2 min.
“There has been a lot of instrumentalization of this affair for political ends”, denounces Tuesday, June 21 Patrice Spinosi, lawyer specializing in the law of fundamental freedoms, lawyer for the League of Human Rights. He intervened alongside the city of Grenoble, at the Council of State to defend the authorization of the burkini. According to him, “the decision which was rendered by the Council of State was also guided by this instrumentalization”.
>> Wearing a burkini in swimming pools: we explain the controversy surrounding the authorization adopted by Grenoble
The Council of State confirmed the suspension of the internal regulations of the municipal swimming pools of the city of Grenoble which authorized in particular the wearing of the burkini. The interim judge of the administrative court of Grenoble had suspended, on May 25, the new internal regulations of the city’s swimming pools, voted in the municipal council on May 16, authorizing the wearing of the burkini. This suspension, contested by the municipality, is confirmed by the Council of State, the highest administrative court.
“It’s obviously a form of disappointment” because “the Council of State confirms the decision of the administrative court considering that there was a desire on the part of the city of Grenoble to explicitly authorize the burkini against the general rule which is to prohibit clothing that is not not tight”details Patrice Spinosi.
For the lawyer specializing in fundamental freedoms, “it is a fairly new interpretation of the law which in my opinion is very limited to the situation of Grenoble and which cannot be the subject of any generalization and I think that the Council of State was particularly clear on the subject“, according to him. “I remain quite convinced that in other cities like Rennes, which was mentioned during the hearing, and which generally authorized the wearing of non-tight jerseys, there should be no problem”.
Our defense was to say that “it was not a religious will of the city of Grenoble” but to say that “what cannot be prohibited must be authorized and therefore under these conditions there is no reason for there to be an attack on the principle of neutrality simply because there is an implicit authorization of the port burkini in a swimming pool in France”.