PARIS, March 22, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – France's major Islamic groups and Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin have signed the statutes setting up the “Foundation for Islamic Works”, with the aim of financing the construction of mosques and development of other Islamic activities in the European country.

The nascent foundation will be tasked with providing finances for the building and renovation of mosques and prayer halls as well as training Muslim imams and chaplains in the European country.

Under the foundation’s constitutional law, a copy of which was obtained by IslamOnline.net Tuesday, March 22, its board of directors will be formed of 15 Muslim members, to be elected every six years, representing the four major Islamic groups in the country.

The French Interior Ministry will also be represented in the foundation’s board by a delegate as a mediating body between the foundation and French official authorities.

The new Islamic body will not receive any public money, however, its funds will be banked at the state-owned Caisse des Depots et Consignations, which will guarantee financial transparency, according to Reuters.

The statutes of the Muslim foundation was signed by Lhaj Thami Breze, chairman of the Union of French Islamic Organizations (UOIF), Dalil Boubakeur, rector of Paris Grand Mosque and head of the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM), Haydar Demiryurek, the chairman of the Coordinating Committee of French Turkish Muslims and Mohamed Bechari, the chair of the National Federation of French Muslims (FNMF).

France is home to around six million Muslims, the biggest Muslim minority in Europe.

The French move to set up the Islamic foundation was welcomed by leaders of the Islamic groups in France as a major step for “institutionalizing” the Islamic activities in France, which would bear positive fruits on the future of Islam in the European country.

“This is a historical step that would lead to substantial changes in the Islamic activities in France,” Breze told IslamOnline.net Tuesday.

Haydar Demiryurek, for his part, stressed that the move would enhance integration of the Muslim minority in French society.

The foundation is also expected to play a leading role in promoting funds for the Islamic activities in the country after they have been holding back since the September 11 attacks in the United States.

“Since Sept. 11/2001, many donors and countries have been holding back,” said Mohamed Bechari, FNMF head, referring to the 2001 attacks on the United States that aroused suspicion about Muslim groups’ funds possibly bankrolling militant activity.

“We needed a foundation approved by the state to encourage donors to help us,” he said.

Boubakeur also agreed, stressing that donors have been hesitating to offer funds for the Islamic bodies in France because some funds had ended up in corrupt hands.

“Some (Muslim) countries have asked France to control this and redistribute their donations, but it cannot do this because of the legal separation of church and state,” he said.

Since the 9/11 attacks, the United States has been pressing Muslim countries to clamp down on Islamic charities under the pretext that they were channeling funds to terrorists and extremists, a charge vehemently dismissed by many charities.

The charities have complained that restrictions were affecting their work to reach out to the Muslim poor and needy.

The nascent Islamic foundation is the best tool to shed light on “murky” financial flows and ensure proper mosques and trained Muslim imams, said the French Interior Minister, who proposed the private body to help finance French Islamic bodies in the country without state aid.

“This is the best way to shed light on the flow of funds that are not well known and fuel speculation,” Villepin was quoted by Reuters as saying.

He noted that the 800,000 euro starting capital for the Islamic foundation "has already been largely passed. But he declined to name the donors.

The UOIF had earlier opposed the French plans to establish a broader Muslim body for fears that the move would impose more official oversight on the funds of the Islamic bodies in the European country, according to IOL Correspondent.

Weeks before signing the foundation’s statutes, a meeting was held between the French Interior Minister and representatives from the UOIF to discuss plans to set up the Muslim foundation.

“During the meeting, the French minister urged the UOIF representatives to make concessions on the issue as it did in the past on establishing the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM),” sources from the UOIF told IOL on condition of anonymity.

The UOIF approved the minister’s request, conditioned that the constitutional statutes will include an article stating the financial sums allocated for any Islamic project would be unanimously approved by the four Islamic bodies, the sources added.

During talks on establishing the Islamic foundation, the French Interior Ministry was keen on guaranteeing the foundation would not be controlled by the CFCM for fears that it would not be dominated by the winner in the CFCM elections, likely expected to be won over by the UOIF, which is close to the Muslim Brotherhood movement.