France - full face veil debate

Socialist Party opposes legal ban on burqa

Article published on the 2010-01-06 Latest update 2010-01-06 12:31 TU

Burqa-clad Afghan women travel in a taxi in Kabul
(Photo: Reuters)

Moves to outlaw the full-face Islamic veil in France met a challenge on Wednesday as the opposition Socialists formally came out against government plans to ban it.

The Socialist Party announcement came a day after French President Nicolas Sarkozy left open the prospect of legislation to ban the veil, known as a burqa or niqab.

Previously, members of the Socialist Party had expressed diverging views on the issue.

The announcement said the Socialists oppose the wearing of the burqa, but are “not favourable" to a legal ban on it, which would amount to an inconsistent law, said spokesperson Benoit Hamon on Wednesday.

"We are totally opposed to the burqa,” he said. “The burqa is a prison for women and has no place in the French Republic. But an ad hoc law would not have the anticipated effect.

"It is not the state's job to judge what is the right interpretation of the scriptures… We should not make a law when it is not clear how it would be enforced."

Sarkozy himself has said that the burqa is not welcome in France, but he has not waded into the debate on whether legislation should be enacted.

The parliamentary leader of his right-wing UMP party, Jean-Francois Cope, has said he will propose a bill this month to ban the burqa in public, in order to defend France from "extremists".