by Jules Gomes, Middle East Forum
Counter-Islamists Warn Bill Could Be Deployed Against Conservatives
In a decisive vote, French senators have passed a bill targeting “Islamist infiltration,” which includes harsher penalties for offenses against Republican ideals, stricter monitoring of mosques, and the freezing of assets belonging to Islamist separatist entities.
France’s upper house of parliament voted 208 to 124 on May 5 to approve the bill introduced by former Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, to combat what he describes as a clandestine movement whose “ultimate objective” is the “establishment of an Islamic state” in France.
On March 16, Retailleau tabled the bill in the Senate and defended the proposed law as a measure to ward off the ‘lasting and structured ideological threat’ of ‘political Islamism,’ which he said is ‘characterized by concealment, ambiguity, and the manipulation of civil liberties.
“This strategy of infiltration, historically developed by the Muslim Brotherhood since its creation in 1928, pursues a constant objective: to reshape society to make it compatible with a fundamentalist and political interpretation of Islam,” Retailleau told senators.
Harsher Penalties and Stricter Monitoring
The rationale for the bill cites the Interior Ministry’s May 2025 report on the Muslim Brotherhood and Political Islam in France, which spotlights Islamist networks seeking to create a separatist state, and a November 2025 survey by the French Institute of Opinion Polls (IFOP), which reveals that a majority of Muslims aged 15 to 24 now privilege Sharia law over French law.
The proposed law creates a new criminal offense for anyone who, “in a concerted manner, within a public or private body or de facto group, works to induce that body or group to make decisions or adopt practices contrary to legally established rules, with the aim of seriously undermining the principles of the Republic.” Violators could face “five years’ imprisonment and a fine of 75,000 euros.”
The legislation also dramatically expands the French state’s authority to monitor, restrict, and dissolve organizations suspected of promoting separatism or religious extremism. The bill allows authorities to block the construction or expansion of mosques if officials believe the project would pose “a particularly serious threat to public safety and order.” It further authorizes the Interior and Economy ministries to freeze the assets of groups accused of inciting violence, promoting discrimination, or undermining “the integrity of the national territory” or “the republican form of government.” The proposal specifically targets organizations that “invoke or encourage others to invoke their religious opinions to free themselves from legally established common rules.
It further empowers authorities to oppose the construction or extension of mosques and to shut down mosques “when there are serious reasons to believe that such construction or extension would constitute a particularly serious threat to public safety and order.”