By Barbara Surk
The Associated Press
NICE, France (AP) — The French government on Saturday introduced a new body to reshape Islam in France, part of President Emmanuel Macron’s efforts to rid it of extremism.
The Forum of Islam in France leadership will be made up of clergy and lay people to help guide the largest Muslim community in western Europe. All of its members will be hand-picked by the government and women will make up at least a quarter of them.
With France bloodied by past Islamic extremist attacks and having hundreds of citizens who went to fight with jihadists in Syria in past years, few disagree that radicalization is a danger. But critics also see the efforts as a political ploy to lure right-wing voters to Macron’s centrist party ahead of France’s April 10 presidential election.
Supporters say it will keep the country — and its 5 million Muslims — safe and ensure that Muslim practices in France adhere to the country’s cherished value of secularism in public life.
