The French government on Wednesday approved a draft law to ban garments which cover the face in public. The bill, which targets the burka and niqab worn by some Muslim women, will now go to parliament.
“On this question, the government is taking, in all conscience, a path which is difficult but just,” President Nicolas Sarkozy told the ministers at the cabinet meeting. “We are an old nation assembled around a certain idea of personal dignity, in particular the dignity of women, and around a certain idea of married life.”
A veil which covers the face contradicts values which are fundamental to the French republic, he said.