FRENCH PRESIDENT Nicolas Sarkozy sought to reassure the country’s Muslims that they were not being stigmatised after his government yesterday approved a Bill that would ban face veils in public.
Despite a warning from France’s highest legal advisory body, the Council of State, that an outright ban on veils such as the burqa and niqab would be unconstitutional, the cabinet is to propose a fine of €150 on any woman who wears one in public. Anyone forcing a woman to cover her face could receive a one-year jail sentence and a €15,000 fine.
“This is a decision one doesn’t take lightly,” Mr Sarkozy said. “Nobody should feel hurt or stigmatised. I’m thinking in particular of our Muslim compatriots, who have their place in the republic and should feel respected.”
The president said France was “an old nation united around a certain idea of personal dignity, particularly women’s dignity, and of life together. It’s the fruit of centuries of efforts.”
The proposal has been hugely contentious in France, where almost 10 per cent of the 62 million population is Muslim. Some deputies in the ruling UMP bloc favoured a partial restriction that would ban face veils in state buildings and on public transport, but Mr Sarkozy rejected that option last month and ordered his government to prepare a wider ban. French intelligence estimates up to 2,000 women in France cover their faces. Two-thirds are French citizens, and one-quarter are converts to Islam.
Mr Sarkozy said the government had made its decision “in good conscience” and, referring to the Council of State’s position, added: “The government and parliament must shoulder their political and moral responsibility,” even if the judicial branch had a different opinion.
Justice minister Michèle Alliot-Marie said the Bill includes a six-month grace period to allow Muslim leaders and groups to persuade covered women that their veils violate French values. After that, women veiled in public would be forced to pay a €150 fine or take “citizenship lessons”, she told Le Parisien. Anyone forcing them to veil would face jail and the €15,000 fine. “As we see it, these women are victims,” Ms Alliot-Marie said.
Last month, a woman in Nantes was fined for driving while veiled on the grounds her field of vision was obstructed. On Saturday, another woman had her veil pulled off during a dispute in a clothes shop. A former Catholic named Elodie, she told French radio her Muslim husband opposed the veil.