The regulations for public swimming pools in Grenoble will change. The town’s environmentalist mayor, Eric Piolle, has obtained permission from his town council to wear a burkini, covering swimsuits (anti-UV for example) or a monokini for swimming.Monday, May 16.
Now revised, the internal regulations require the wearing of a swimming cap and require swimsuits in “fabric specifically designed for swimming”with shapes “adjusted close to the body” and a reserved use of the swimming pool. Unfitted outfits “longer than mid-thigh” and swimwear-shorts are prohibited. The text, called “Conditions and prices for access to municipal swimming pools”, must come into force from June 1. Franceinfo summarizes the controversy.
What was the mayor of Grenoble defending?
Eric Piolle wanted to vote for the authorization of the burkini and the monokini before the opening of the summer season, at the beginning of June. He wanted to come back “to law and simplicity” by lifting certain clothing prohibitions.
On franceinfo Monday morning, the mayor of Grenoble had indeed pleaded for “women can swim bare-breasted like men, that one can wear covering bathing suits to protect oneself from the sun, that one can express in the pool as in the street one’s politico-religious convictions”.
For the city councilor, it is also a question of enforcing the law “extremely modern” of 1905 on secularism. “It’s just a matter of equal access to public service”he pointed out to 20 minuteson May 3, adding that “this change in swimming pool regulations should rather be seen as social progress”. Eric Piolle did not conceal the “fight against political Islam” but it has to happen “where it’s needed”.
Are the burkini already allowed in swimming pools in other cities?
Two municipalities, at least, authorize the burkini in their swimming pools: Surgères (Charente-Maritime) or Rennes (Ille-et-Vilaine). In his argument, the mayor of Grenoble cites the example of Rennes, which modified the internal regulations of its swimming pools in 2018.
At the time, the sports councilor for the City of Rennes, Yvon Léziart, explained to West France that the wearing of the burkini (as well as shorts for men) had been authorized “provided that these jerseys respect the conditions of hygiene and safety”and whether they are “in a material, for example lycra, compatible with the practice of swimming” . He further assured that “the number of women swimming with a burkini [était] in any case very weak in Rennes”.
Moreover, it is only in the name of the health and safety conditions described in the internal regulations of municipal swimming pools, and not in the name of secularism, that town halls can ban the burkini, recalls the former rapporteur of the Observatory of secularism, Nicolas Cadène, at franceinfo. Because the principle of neutrality only applies to public service agents and not to users.
How did the Grenoble elected officials vote?
The vote was close, the deliberation having been adopted with a narrow majority of 29 votes for, 27 against and two abstentions, after two hours and a half of sometimes tense debates.
The former mayor of the Isère city, Alain Carignon, now in the municipal opposition, accused his successor of wanting “isolate”the city. Eric Piolle wants “promote communitarianism for electoral reasons”he castigated at the microphone of RTL, Monday morning.
Has the state reacted to the Grenoble project?
The prefect of Isère, Laurent Prévost, announced that he would seize the administrative court of Grenoble “by means of a secularism summary in order to obtain the suspension, in addition to the summary of cancellation”. This on the instructions of the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin.
Deliberation this Monday 16/05 from @VilleGrenoble on the internal regulations of municipal swimming pools: on the instructions of the @Interieur_Gouv, @Prefect38 will seize the administrative court in the event of adoption by the municipal council.
https://t.co/l7IbqesYqA– Prefect of Isère (@Prefet38) May 15, 2022
For Laurent Prevost, “this deliberation, whose manifest objective is to yield to communitarian demands with religious aims, seems to contravene the principle of secularism laid down by the law of 1905 as well as the provisions of the law of 24 August 2021 confirming respect for the principles of the Republic”.
This threat to bring the case to administrative justice does not worry Eric Piolle, also targeted by attacks from the executive, including Jean-Michel Blanquer and Gérald Darmanin. “I can’t wait for the government to explain to us why, in a swimming pool, we should hide all our religious signs” he retorted, Monday morning.
What opposition does Eric Piolle encounter?
The president (LR) of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Laurent Wauquiez, quickly reacted to the city council’s vote, accusing Eric Piolle of“definitively record its break with secularism and the values of our Republic”.He also promised to remove all public subsidies to the city.
By authorizing the wearing of the burkini in municipal swimming pools, Eric Piolle definitively acts his break with secularism and the values of our Republic. Faced with this separatism and as I had promised, the Region immediately ceased all subsidies to the town hall of Grenoble.
— Laurent Wauquiez (@laurentwauquiez) May 16, 2022
A position shared by at least 42 departmental advisers (out of a total of 58), including the LR president of the departmental council, Jean-Pierre Barbier, signatories on May 10 from a platform against the authorization of the burkini. They state in this text “refuse to tolerate intolerance”. According to them, the covering swimsuit is a sign “of oppression and inferiority of women” , “a tool in the service of an ideology (…) which, behind the simple question of clothing, aims to trivialize Islamist precepts.”
On the left too, the measure did not convince everyone. The president of the metropolis, Christophe Ferrari (various left), worried about the consequences of a possible adoption : “Tomorrow, we will undoubtedly be confronted, in the swimming pools of the agglomeration, with demonstrations asking us to do the same thing as Eric Piolle. The mayor of Grenoble cannot not listen to us.”
The elected opposition members expressed their deep disappointment and announced appeals “tomorrow” to obtain its cancellation. “You bear a very serious responsibility”, launched the right-wing former mayor Alain Carignon before ostensibly leaving the city council with his group in protest.
As for LR deputy Eric Ciotti, he tabled a bill in the National Assembly on Monday aimed at banning the burkini in public swimming pools in the name of secularism so as not to let mayors regulate between “strong community pressure” and “ideological reasons”.
How did the burkini defenders activate?
The Citizen Alliance association, which presents itself as a “Syndicate of citizens committed against all injustices in the city and for the democratization of public services”, published a support column on May 11 in the blogs section of Mediapart. Titled “In May, wear what you like!”, it is signed by 113 personalities including the feminist activist Caroline De Haas, the historian Mathilde Larrère or the ecologist elected to the Council of Paris Alice Coffin.
For the signatories, “Muslim women have their place in the swimming pool”than other citizens and “no one should be stigmatized even in the pools because of their choice of jersey”.
Since 2019, the Alliance Citoyenne association had already organized several operations in Grenoble swimming pools in favor of wearing the burkini. In the summer of 2021, the city of Grenoble had denounced “deplorable provocations” . Eric Piolle had written to the Prime Minister, Jean Castex, to ask the State to take a position on the outfits authorized or not at the swimming pool. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin had accused the association of doing “pressure on public authorities to promote rules compatible with Sharia”,stated at the time The Parisian.