1 ISLAM AND ISLAMISATION DEBATE IN FRANCE 1 By Oyunsuren Damdinsuren, Senior Lecturer, SIRPA, National University of Mongolia Introduction In recent years, warnings about “islamisation” or “islamic take-over” of Europe have increasingly been heard not only from the speeches of right-wing politicians, but also in print and social media and among general population of Europe. Waves of Islamist terrorist attacks in France, Belgium and Germany and the influx of Muslim refugees in recent years, contributed to the intensification of this debate. In fact, the Muslim share of the population throughout Europe grew about one percentage point a decade, from 4% in 1990 to 6% in 2010. The situation is particularly sensitive in France, where, according to some estimates, the total number of people of Muslim background reached between 5 and 6 million or 8–10% of the population. After the Paris attack of January and November 2015, and Nice attack of July 2016, the French public opinion on Islam has worsened. In a recent survey, 33 per cent of the French people responded that “Islam is a danger and it represents a threat.” This number is 45 per cent among Catholics. The islamisation can be generally described as the process of a society's shift towards Islam. The English synonyms, “islamification”, “muslimization” and “arabization”, have a similar meaning. In popular discourse, the islamisation is understood as Islamic take-over of a country by becoming a majority through immigration and higher birth rate and then imposing Sharia law on everyone. Though the topic of islamisation of France is not widely studied, in recent years numerous researches on Islam in Europe in general and in France in particular, have been conducted. In his 2006 book “L'islamisation de la France” (Islamisation of France) independent researcher Joachim Véliocas analyses Muslim associations and all Islamist trends developing in France and concludes that the islamisation of France is in its early days. He criticizes the main French political parties UMP and PS for subsidizing constructions of mosques with taxpayer money. 2 In 2015 Joachim Véliocas published another book, in which he strongly condemns the French mayors who court Islamism, by financing mosques and Islamic institutes. 3 1 Article published in World Affairs magazine, №3/34 (461), Ulaanbaatar 2016. 2 Joachim Véliocas, “L'islamisation de la France”, Godfroy de Bouillon 2006. 3 Joachim Véliocas, “Ces maires qui courtisent l'islamisme”, Tatamis 2015.