The French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) on Tuesday slammed the use of Muslims as “scapegoats” in the French election campaign in which halal slaughter has become a hot-button issue. The statement came a day after Prime Minister Francois Fillon urged Muslims and Jews to consider scrapping their “outdated” halal and kosher slaughter rules. The CFCM, asked about Fillon’s comment on halal, said it “does not accept that Islam and Muslims be used as scapegoats in this (election) campaign”. Richard Prasquier, head of the CRIF umbrella group of French Jewish organisations, said Monday that he was “shocked” by Fillon’s “stupefying” declaration. The comments came as the right-wing President Nicolas Sarkozy and his ministers kept up their efforts to woo far-right voters from the anti-immigrant National Front led by Marine Le Pen. Le Pen launched the halal debate last month when she claimed that all meat from abattoirs in the Paris region was prepared using Islamic halal traditions. It later emerged that these abattoirs mostly supplied local Muslim butchers and that most meat sold in Paris came from outside the region. Sarkozy’s government has come under fire from Muslim groups for a series of measures implemented during his five-year rule that authorities say are aimed at protecting France’s secular tradition. These include a ban on wearing full-face veils such as the Islamic niqab and the burqa. France will vote in the first round of a presidential election on April 22, followed by a second-round run-off on May 6. The Socialist candidate Francois Hollande is well ahead of Sarkozy in the polls.
