It is a matter that falls worse. A few days after the holding of the controversial agreement of the UMP on secularism, our colleagues have published Tuesday Mediapart an article about a proposed development of two specific competition for a handful of students in preparatory classes so they can observe Passover on the evening of 18 to 26 April.

From next April 20 to 22, 14 512 candidates, leaving the vast majority of preparatory classes, the competition will try Mines Ponts.A few days later, from April 26 to 29, 12 894 young Minds will gather in the lobby of the Parc Floral de Paris for the Central-Supélec contest, a competition for common selection including the Ecole Centrale.

The organizers of these competitions seriously considered a dozen of these candidates are placed in solitary confinement in a separate building, 20 and 26 April.These young observant Jews, aged 19 to 21 years, would then consist of 10:00 p.m. to 2:00 in the morning to observe the Jewish tradition of not writing over the holidays of Pesach, Passover.

Dates "forgotten" by the annual proxy statement for leave of absence?

The Republic already allows the absence of its officials or candidates for public assistance according to the main religious festivals. Each year, a circular specifies the days of leave of absence in addition to those already provided in the calendar of holidays and festivals modeled on Catholic and Protestant. In 2011, this list identifies thirteen festivals Orthodox, Armenian, Muslim, Jewish and Buddhist.Among them, three Jewish holidays, but not the Jewish Passover is not there. The Minister of Higher Education, Valerie Pecresse, spoke of "an oversight". Contacted by FRANCE 24, Baroin, spokesman for the government and co-signer of this circular as Minister of Budget and Public Service, declined to answer our questions.

According to the survey Médiapart which is based on the testimony of senior officials outraged, the Elysée is directly involved in us grasp this exceptional procedure.Something embarrassing for Nicolas Sarkozy, the lowest in the polls a year before the presidential election.

A counselor anonymously president has strongly denied any involvement in the edition of the daily Le Parisien on Wednesday, April 13.To prove otherwise, Mediapart published the next day a letter from the Ecole Centrale de Paris, Bernard Belloc, Nicolas Sarkozy adviser on matters relating to higher education.

"If a solution of containment was successful, it certainly is not," the director of the Central School to a counselor about Nicolas Sarkozy.

In the letter dated February 8 2011intitulée "Interference between the dates of the 2011 competition and celebration of Passover," explains Hervé Biausser in a courteous but firm language, that the proposed containment is a very bad idea technically, legally – given the risk of annulling the competition – and in the media: "If a solution of containment was successful, it certainly is not. […] The media fallout would be so heavy," he writes.

The site of the weekly Le Point advance the name of Rabbi Chaim Korsia who "used his people skills" to be the intermediary between the request of students and the highest political levels.Contacted by FRANCE 24, Korsia Haim says he "does not communicate on this topic. The grand rabbi of France ended questions, you can include in full the statement. "

In this statement, the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France said it was not involved in this "case does not undermine the principles of republican secularism" and considers the controversy as "a tempest in a teapot."

A development project aborted

On the merits, the Jewish Institutions in France denies soliciting assistance from the head of state but defend the principle of a religious exemption for the days of competition.Arielle Schwab, president of the Union of Jewish Students of France, and regrets that "the controversy exposes the Jewish community of clichés that would like the Jews are all privileged to have the ear of power and trading in pass a competitive night in the utmost secrecy. "

The young woman believes that religious containment "was not a bad solution," and argue that students from overseas are also made secret of the metropolis for a few hours during national competitions. "This kind of development existed for over a century and the introduction of secularism "she says."Secularism is just that, that those students who are ultra-minority still have the right to quote."

Side of the organizers, it seems that the controversy was right for this project. An employee of the General Secretariat of the Central Supélec contest, says that "absolutely no exceptions" will be tolerated. Same story for Richard Melis, Secretary General of Mines and Bridges common contest. He recognizes that the containment of a few Jewish students "has actually been in development several months ago. But in the end, no exceptions.None. "Asked about the involvement of the Elysee, the man finds a nervous laugh:" I have no contacts at that level. "