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EUROPE
Angela Merkel Calls for Ban on Full-Face Veils in Germany
By ALISON SMALEDEC. 6, 2016
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Merkel Says Germany Should Ban Face Veil
Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday that Germany should ban full-face veils
, and that it would not tolerate any version of Shariah law. By THE ASSOCIATED P
RESS. Photo by Michael Kappeler/European Pressphoto Agency. Watch in Times Video

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ESSEN, Germany To loud applause, Chancellor Angela Merkel told her party members
on Tuesday that Germany should ban full-face veils wherever legally possible and
that it would not tolerate any application of Shariah law over German justice.
Accepting her partys nomination as their candidate for another four-year term, th
e chancellor used the moment to broaden her stance on banning the veil, trying t
o deflect challenges from far-right forces that have made some of their deepest
gains since World War II.
The far right has advanced by appealing to anti-immigrant sentiment in the year
since Ms. Merkel welcomed nearly one million asylum seekers, the majority from M
uslim countries often at the expense of her mainstream conservative party at the
polls.
In a clear nod to criticism that the state had appeared to lose control over its
borders, the chancellor opened her 80-minute speech to the annual conference of
her Christian Democratic Union with a promise that such a situation cannot, may
not and should not be repeated.
But the biggest applause lines concerned law and order, including a promise that
Shariah law would never replace German justice a problem that has barely arisen
but has been cast as a specter by the far-right party Alternative for Germany.
The loudest cheers came for her line on Shariah, followed by her statements on f
ace coverings. Here we say, Show your face, Ms. Merkel told the party. So full veilin
g is not appropriate here. It should be prohibited wherever legally possible.
She did not say what circumstances that included. But the language seemed more e
xpansive than she had previously used.
Last summer, when debates broke out across Europe over the so-called burkini swi
msuit, Ms. Merkel and other German leaders said they favored a partial ban on fu
ll veils.
At that time, Ms. Merkel had said that from my standpoint, a fully veiled woman s
carcely has a chance at full integration in Germany. But rather than any new law

on face coverings, she and other government officials seemed to prefer the appli
cation of common sense. Faces cannot be covered, for instance, when going throug
h a security check at airports.
Her statements on Tuesday appeared to expand that definition, though clearly som
e of her partys members wanted more.
Jenovan Krishnan, 25, the leader of the Ring of Christian Democrat Students, a g
roup with 8,000 members in several universities, said he and his associates want
ed an explicit ban on face veils.
Julia Klckner, one of Ms. Merkels deputies as party chairwoman, called last summer
for an outright ban on the veils. She was the top vote-getter in elections for
the six deputies at the congress on Tuesday.
The atmosphere at the conference was less tense than at last years, Mr. Krishnan
said. Fewer migrants have arrived since spring, when Balkan states largely close
d their borders to migrants. The migrant flow through Turkey has also dropped sh
arply since Ms. Merkel arranged a European Union agreement to pay the Turks to c
are for migrants and prevent them from heading west to Central Europe.
In the prelude to the party conference, Ms. Merkel had attended a series of regi
onal meetings, occasionally facing a demand to resign, or hostile criticism of h
er decision to allow migrants free passage in 2015.
Little of those critiques surfaced at the briskly managed conference on Tuesday,
and Ms. Merkel won a 12-minute standing ovation. She was reaffirmed in the part
y leadership she has held since 2000 by a thumping 89.5 percent of votes from 99
4 party delegates.
The campaign ahead, she suggested, had not been made easier by the result of the
United States election a rare rhetorical distance for a German chancellor, part
icularly one from the center-right Christian Democratic Union.
Washington is easily Germanys most important ally outside Europe. While not menti
oning President-elect Donald J. Trump by name, Ms. Merkel indicated that his vic
tory could make it harder to define global policy and tackle international secur
ity challenges.
A good quarter century after the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the t
wo blocs, many people have the feeling that the world has gone off the rails, Ms.
Merkel said.
We are dealing with a world situation and that is especially true after the Ameri
can elections in which the world must first sort itself out, she added. Especially
when looking at important things like NATO and the relationship to Russia.
She also repeated as general principle the catalog of beliefs in freedom and equ
al treatment for all that she cited as her basis for cooperation with Mr. Trump
the day after he was elected.
Ms. Merkel was critical of Russia, noting that it was supporting Syria in the bo
mbing of Aleppo. She also said that something is not right in Germany, as tens of
thousands here have rallied against an American-European free-trade pact while no
t a single person has marched against the tragedy unfurling in Aleppo.
As a measure of the challenges ahead in politically unpredictable times, Ms. Mer
kel appealed for support as she enters the election campaign. People told me I mu
st stand again, she told her party members. You must, you must, help me.

Continue reading the main story

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