A VOTE has been passed unanimously by a Belgian parliament committee to ban the wearing of face veils in public, stoking controversy in a country with a rising Muslim population.
Although the move by the home affairs committee will have to be endorsed by the wider parliament if it is to become law, wearers of face veils will now be subjected to a fine of between €15 and €25 or imprisonment for between one and seven days.
Although French president Nicolas Sarkozy declared last year that the traditional burka is not welcome in his country, efforts to introduce an outright ban ran foul of constitutional lawyers and the ban was ultimately deemed impossible to enforce.
Therefore, if Belgium’s parliament does introduce an outright ban on veils, it will be the first European country to do so.
The law was originally proposed by the French-speaking liberal party of finance minister Didier Reynders.
Local sources say the prospect of the proposal receiving majority support in a plenary session of the chamber of representatives may yet be in doubt, but the issue is expected to go to a vote not long after Easter.
The sources acknowledge that it could create difficulties in a country in which the Muslim population of some 628,000 people represents 6 per cent of the total population – and 25.5 per cent of the population in the greater Brussels area.
By some estimates, the proportion of Muslims in the city will rise to 33 per cent by 2020. In some parts of Brussels already Muslims are in the majority.
Some Belgian towns have already passed municipal bylaws that ban veils in public places, but the proposal endorsed by the parliamentary committee would impose a countrywide ban.
Whereas foreigners make up 10 per cent of the total population in Belgium, they comprise some 56 per cent of the population in Brussels.
If the lower house of parliament adopts the plan, it would be open to the upper house to call for a second reading of the Bill. If the upper house does not do so, the measures would go to the king to be signed into law.
Although the proposal adopted by the committee does not specify traditional forms of face veil such as the burka and niqab, it calls for sanctions against people who present themselves in a public place with a masked or hidden face, in part or in full.
The proposal makes exceptions for fire service personnel, motorbike riders and others obliged not to show their faces because of their work.