French lawmakers unanimously passed a resolution on Tuesday asserting that face-covering Muslim veils are contrary to the principles of liberty, equality and fraternity on which France is founded.
The non-binding resolution, passed 434 to 0, lays the groundwork for a planned law forbidding face-covering veils in public, including in the streets.
One lawmaker compared women who fully cover themselves to “phantoms” and “walking coffins.”
The bill calling for a global ban on such garments goes before parliament in July. A draft text is to be reviewed by the Cabinet on May 19. A similar veil ban is in the works in neighboring Belgium.
Tuesday’s resolution, sponsored by President Nicolas Sarkozy’s conservative party, had been widely expected to win approval in the National Assembly with rival Socialists backing it despite concerns about the wording of an eventual law. Lawmakers in the 577-seat house who opposed the resolution abstained.
“The freedom of women is what brings us here … Have we the choice (to say no) when the symptoms of the regression of women are in the streets?” asked Nicole Ameline, a lawmaker from Sarkozy’s UMP party and former minister for women’s rights.