French interior minister Bruno Retailleau has challenged the decision to reinstate public funding for the private Averroès Muslim secondary school in Lille following a recent ruling by the Lille Administrative Court in favour of the establishment.
He described the school as a “bastion of Islamist infiltration” and urged the State to appeal the court’s decision.
At a press conference on April 24, Retailleau stated: “The Minister for Education has indicated that she reserves the right to appeal. I hope that the State will appeal.
“These facts are indicative of Islamist infiltration, which I intend to combat with the utmost firmness. For us, Lycée Averroès is a stronghold of this infiltration,” he added.
The school was established 20 years ago and currently has 800 pupils and 60 teachers, according to its website.
The establishment’s State-backed contract of association, which allows private institutions to receive public funding in exchange for following the national education curriculum, was terminated in December 2023.
Under this contract, schools agree to teach in line with the rules and programmes of the French national education system. In return, they receive State subsidies and their teachers are paid by the Ministry of Education.
The decision to end the school’s funding was justified by what authorities called “serious breaches of the fundamental principles of the Republic” and a lack of transparency.
“It was not a question of closing a school but of ending the contract by which the State subsidises the school with public money,” Lille’s Northern Prefecture stated at the time.
On April 23, this year the Lille Administrative Court ruled that “the condition relating to the existence of serious breaches of the law was not met” and that “the procedure followed was filled with irregularities”.
After the ruling, education minister Élisabeth Borne released a statement arguing that trust between public authorities and the school had been broken.
She added that the ministry reserved the right to appeal the court’s decision.
Regarding his concerns about the private Muslim school, Retailleau also announced plans to release a report on radical Islamism in France, “compiled from the intelligence services of the highest level”, he said.
He described the report as “damning” and it was expected to detail concerns about “frérisme“, a term referring to the Muslim Brotherhood, and what Retailleau called the group’s “entryism” into French society.
“This report shows that there are threats of entryism and political Islamism that spreads quietly, infiltrating French society through sports, cultural and social associations, and even local councils,” he said.
“This form of political Islam is long-term and strategic. Its aim is no longer just to create isolated communities apart from the national collective, as separatism once sought to do.
“Its ultimate goal is to bring all of French society under Sharia law, with the belief that Islamic law supersedes republican law,” he added.
In a press release issued late on April 24, the school denounced Retailleau’s remarks and accused him of stoking division by singling out Muslims in France.
“Just hours after the ruling, the President of the Hauts-de-France Region and the Minister of the Interior challenged the court’s decision, once again accusing our school of being a symbol of ‘Islamist entryism,’” the statement read.
“We, the leadership of Lycée Averroès, deeply regret that two prominent political figures, one of whom holds a high office in the national government, are undermining the rule of law and perpetuating harmful narratives that divide French society by targeting its Muslim citizens.”
The school ‘s leaders called for the rule of law to be respected and demanded the recognition of “the excellence and integrity of our school”.
“Justice was served in full accordance with legal procedures: the law, and nothing but the law. To uphold the values of the Republic is, above all, to uphold its rules — an obligation that applies equally to all citizens,” they stated.
