By Hajer M'tiri
PARIS
There are not enough mosques in France, said a French state secretary on Tuesday.
Responsible for state reform, Thierry Mandon went on to argue that the lack of "decent" worship places was one of the reasons behind radicalization.
"There are not enough mosques in France," Mandon said on French iTELE TV. "There are still too many cities where Islam is practiced in conditions that are not decent," he added.
Mandon's comments come after the French Council of the Muslim Faith's call for the number of Islamic places of worship to be doubled in the country created a controversy among politicians.
Dalil Boubakeur, the president of the Paris-based French Council of the Muslim Faith, which was created 12 years ago to officially represent the community in France, called on Saturday for a doubling of the number of mosques in France for the nation's 7 million Muslims.
Boubakeur's comments have incited debate on this subject in France. In an inteview with the French newspaper Le Figaro on Monday, French Senator Herve Maurey took a different view.
"More transparency is needed on the financing of mosques in France," Maurey said, citing a study made for the French Senate and released on March 18.
The study showed concerns that financing for French mosques could come from foreign or extremist sources.
There are currently about 2,200 mosques in France, according to official statistics.
The far right National Front party described Boubakeur's call as "ludicrous and dangerous," in a statement released on Monday.
The National Front's statement said: "This announcement is provocative, and it seems particularly irresponsible. Who is Mr. Boubakeur to make such a ludicrous and dangerous proposal?"
Mandon said that it was not up to the state "to organize this... Yet it is forced to recognize that sometimes the places of worship for Muslims are not satisfactory."
"There are many areas that lack decent places of worship. If there are decent, open rather than underground or hidden, places it will be better," he added.
"The longer you leave France's Muslims praying in basements or garages, the more you send them to a discrimination based on anger which creates the breeding ground for radicalization," Mandon explained.
In January, 167 acts of violence or threats against mosques were reported in France, compared to just 14 in the same month in 2014.
