French PM moots temporary ban on foreign-funded mosques

PARIS: France’s prime minister said on Friday he would consider a temporary ban on foreign financing of mosques, urging a "new model" for relations with Islam after a spate of jihadist attacks.

Manuel Valls, under fire for perceived security lapses around the attacks, also admitted a "failure" in the fact that one of the jihadists who stormed a church and killed a priest on Tuesday had been released with an electronic tag pending trial. In an interview with French daily Le Monde, Valls said he was "open to the idea that -- for a period yet to be determined -- there should be no financing from abroad for the construction of mosques." The Socialist prime minister also called for Imams to be "trained in France, not elsewhere."

He said Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, whose portfolio also includes religious affairs, was working on building a "new model" for France’s relations with Islam.