Montreuil Mosque Expansion Approved After Legal Battle, Council of State Rules

After a long legal battle, the town hall of Montreuil sees the light at the end of the tunnel. At the end of December 2022, the Council of State confirmed the municipality in the decision taken in 2017 to pre-empt a plot of land adjoining the town’s mosque. The Montreuil administrative court had, in 2018, invalidated this decision. In 2020, it was the turn of the Versailles (Yvelines) administrative court of appeal to do the same. Reason invoked: infringement of the principle of secularism.

In its ruling, the Council of State specified that "the constitutional principle of secularism does not prevent a pre-emption decision from being taken, in compliance with the principle of neutrality towards religions and the principle of equality, in order to allow the realization of a collective facility with a religious purpose. Such a decision is not in itself constitutive of aid to the exercise of a prohibited cult under the provisions of the law of December 9, 1905," reports le Parisien.

Mayor Patrice Bessac says he is "satisfied with the decision of the Council of State which confirms what we wanted, that is to say that the City of Montreuil allows each religious community, whatever it may be, to be able to practice its cult with dignity". Next step? The association that manages the place of worship will enter into negotiations with the owners of the plot to buy the land. This project will make it possible to expand the parking lot and build an annex. It aims to "increase the capacity of the existing mosque to meet the needs of the local Muslim community," the town hall said.