60 percent of the French public favored €15,000) for any imposition of the burka very heart of the all-European
ll-European debate
Over the past year the burka debate has
again heated up in France. The wide-
ranging controversy over the Muslim
full-body veil (and any veil that hides the
face, such as the niqab) was sparked in
June 2009 by President Nicolas Sarkozy,
who claimed that such attire challenges
the French identity and republican values.
Sarkozy addressed both the Senate and
the National Assembly in a specially con-
vened joint session at Versailles Palace,
less than two weeks after his UMP party’s
impressive victory in the elections for
the European Parliament.
In his speech, Sarkozy talked of tax
and other reforms related to the global
economic crisis and to France’s growing
unemployment rates, and also called for
a stricter immigrant-integration policy.
When he mentioned the Islamic burka as
“not welcome” in France – not because
it is a symbol of religion, but because
it represents humiliation and repression
for women – he won massive bipartisan
applause. “We cannot accept women
who are prisoners behind netting, cut off
from all social life, deprived of identity.
That is not the French Republic’s idea of
women’s dignity,” he proclaimed.
In December that year, the president
declared that his party would promote
a law banning the burka in all public
spaces, and this issue became a key part
of the UMP’s campaign for the March
2010 regional elections. This declaration
came shortly after Immigration Minis-
ter Eric Besson had launched a public
debate on French identity. His ministry
invited the public to share their views
on various issues such as obligatory
citizenship classes, the national anthem,
and the wearing of Muslim headscarves,
as well as other matters connected to
“being French.” The consultation was
carried out via public meetings and
online forums, and surveys showed that
holding the debate while just 35 percent
opposed doing so.
Sarkozy’s political rivals attacked this
initiative. The Socialists claimed that the
UMP party was using it to strengthen its
support among far-Right voters; from the
other side, the National Front claimed the
debate had failed to address the “real”
identity crisis threatening the nation.
Ultimately, the public debate stoked by
Sarkozy’s administration did not help his
party win the regional elections. Support
for the anti-immigrant National Front
kept rising, while Sarkozy consistently
fared poorly in opinion polls. However,
the public unrest stemming from his eco-
nomic and social policies was manifested
by a huge victory for the Socialist Party,
which won in twenty-one of the twenty-
two regions of continental France.
As part of his response to the major
defeat, Sarkozy proclaimed that there
would be a law to ban the all-covering
Islamic burka, which “violates women’s
dignity.” With the government unsure
whether such a law would fall foul of
antidiscrimination clauses in the consti-
tution, the Council of State was asked
to rule on the legal implications. The
Council advised that fully banning the
burka from the streets would be “legally
very fragile, and probably unconstitu-
tional.” It suggested instead banning
it from public buildings only, such as
schools, hospitals, and government of-
fices. A parliamentary committee also
concluded that a full ban would raise
constitutional issues, as well as enforce-
ment problems. However, in April 2010
the president defied the Council and the
committee’s advice and instructed his
administration to formulate the first draft
of a law to ban women from wearing
face-covering veils in the street and in
public places.
Sarkozy’s announcement scrambled
the normal political boundaries between
right and left. Martine Aubry, the Social-
ist Party leader, admitted that the burka
was a “real problem in our society” but
said an ad hoc legal prohibition would not
have the anticipated effect and therefore
was “not favorable.” Indeed, the ban can
be viewed as violating democratic values
such as freedom of religious practice;
but, on the other hand, opposing it can
be viewed as supporting the repression of
women and subverting other republican
values. The Socialist Party called on the
government to reconsider the Council’s
advice, asserting that women should
instead be merely discouraged from
wearing the full-body veil.
The new bill that was submitted to the
parliament bans women from wearing
in public any cloth that conceals their
face, and stipulates a heavy fine (up to
by violence, threats, or abuse of authority about multiculturalism and the limits
or power. On May 19, the government of tolerance.
unanimously approved the draft bill As the European Union has no com-
and sent it to be ratified by the National mon immigrant-integration policy, each
Assembly in July and by the Senate in Member State needs to deal with this
September. If approved, it will probably issue according to its constitutional
come into force on January 2011. principles. France, having the largest
The burka ban is a further stage in Muslim community in Western Europe,
a two-decades-long controversy over is a natural case study for other coun-
Muslim female religious attire in French tries. In the city of Maaseik, Belgium,
society. Ever since the 1989 Creil affair, for example, burka-wearing in public
in which three schoolgirls were expelled was already banned in December 2004.
after refusing to remove their veils in However, only after Sarkozy’s proposal
class, the issue has been a political one have similar bills been introduced in the
in France. In March 2004, the then presi- Belgian parliament, as well as in Italy
dent Jacques Chirac signed the French and the Netherlands. Germany has a
Law on Secularity and Conspicuous different state-building philosophy, and
Religious Symbols in State Schools such laws would not be compatible with
and Other Public Spaces.
The main justification for
the law was the concept
of laïcité, or the secular
principles of the French
constitution, which man-
date a total separation be-
tween church and state.
Since being added to the
constitution in 1905, this
concept had been strictly
upheld and had formed
a fundamental ideal of
French state-building.
Sarkozy, however, now
bases his case on other
principles such as gender
equality, and on practical
considerations such as
public security. A case
this April in Nantes, in
which a woman driver
was pulled over by po-
lice because her face veil
“reduced her field of vi-
sion,” and was fined for
posing a “safety hazard,”
clearly demonstrates the
prevailing atmosphere
of hysteria. In another case in 2008, its constitution. Yet, in some of the Ger-
a citizenship application was rejected man states, teachers in public schools are
because the applying woman, who was not allowed to wear headscarf sin class.
married to a French citizen, wore a burka. Although Germany’s interior minister
When she appealed to the Council of criticized the moves in Belgium and
State, it upheld the decision based on France, there are other voices as well.
the woman’s “insufficient assimilation” The German vice-president of the Euro-
into the French Republic. pean Parliament, along with politicians
This case and the veiled-driver inci- elsewhere in Europe, are now calling for
dent appear to be giving fresh ammuni- a continent wide ban. As long as there
tion to the president. Arguably Sarkozy, is no common policy, most likely the
aware of the growing tensions in French European Court of Justice will again
society, is using the burka for political become the last resort for Muslims and
gain. Clearly, however, the French gov- human rights activists who claim to be
ernment is genuinely concerned about democracy’s watchdogs.
clashes of values and a spread of radical
Islam, and hence is ready to take legal
risks. This may hold more appeal for
public opinion than secular principles,
while at the same time going to the