This Alsace-Moselle Concordat exception also means that municipalities can help finance the creation of religious buildings.
And as a matter of fact on this point John, you may have noticed that there’s been a debate raging on in France in the last week re the Strasbourg municipality’s €2.5 million subsidy to the Eyyub Sultan Mosque (which will be Europe’s largest mosque when completed apparently), but that’s not the cause as it’s perfectly legal then in Alsace and in keeping with the Strasbourg municipality financing 10% of the costs of any new religious building, unlike in the rest of France since 1905 of course (there is the odd exception to that rule though. For instance, the French state entirely financed the Grande Mosquée de Paris, the main mosque in Paris, in the 5th arrondissement, Central Paris. Don’t know if you’ve ever been, it’s a stunning place in the heart of the Latin, with Alhambra-style gardens, a 100-feet high minaret, a Muslim institute, a library etc. and a great café/restaurant with 2 lovely patios, mint tea only €2!).
The core beef in Strasbourg stems from the fact that the very controversial Turkish Millî Görüs Islamic Confederation is behind the project (the €2.5m grant is going into their coffers). This Turkish organisation is said to be very close to Erdogan (suspected of actively pursuing expansionist policies in Europe, in a sort of Neo-Ottomanist way), with links to ultranationalist groups such as the Grey Wolves (whose members of its French branch, the now dissolved Loups Gris, assaulted Armenians in the Lyon area a few months ago, in Décines in particular, aka “Little Armenia”, big Armenian community in that area and in France in general, by far the largest in Europe – Greater Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Valence).
Millî Görüs Islamic Confederation has refused to sign the “Charte des principes pour l’islam de France”, (to fight against separatism) and has also pushed for Turkey to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention (I’m limited to 2 links per post but Wiki has a page on that convention), said convention which Millî Görüs accuses of “destroying the family cell and encouraging homosexuality”.
There are all sorts of ramifications to this issue, further fuelled by the proximity of the 2022 elections and campaign, which, to all intents and purposes, has already started. Mairie vs Conseil général, newly-elected EELV/Green Maire Jeanne Barseghian (who incidently, as per her name, is of Armenian extraction) & municipal council (EELV who are threatening to sue 2 gvt ministers, Darmanin and Schiappa, for defamation) vs former municipality (Macron’s LREM) vs local opposition (LR etc.), strong suspicions of clientelism going on (on all sides, Greens and previous rightwing municipalities going back over ten years ago, as this big mosque project was launched in 2010) etc.