ABSTRACT
Launching a commission to deal with an important political, social, ethical or religious problem is quite common in France, as well as in other democratic countries. In more recent years, two commissions have been launched, one in July 2003 by former President of the Republic, Jacques Chirac, and the other in November 2005 by the Minister of Home Affairs Nicolas Sarkozy. Colloquially, the first one is usually referred to as the Stasi Commission and the second one as the Machelon Commission. The exact French name of the Stasi Commission is Commission pour l'application du principe de laïcité dans la République. The main proposition of the Stasi Commission was the prohibition of religious symbols in French public schools, particularly Muslim veils. The main recommendation of the Machelon Commission was the legalization of the public funding of religions, in order to facilitate the construction of places of worship, particularly Muslim mosques.
