German Interior Minister Calls for Partial Burqa Ban

© Regis Duvignau / Reuters

The German interior minister has advocated a partial burqa ban amid a debate on the integration of Muslim refugees. Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that a “completely covered” woman has almost “no chance of integrating” herself into German society.

Ahead of a meeting with regional representatives of the German Conservative Party (DKP), German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere told journalists that wearing a full veil in Germany “has no place in our country and… does not comply with our understanding of the role of women.”

About 5 million Germans are Muslims, making up 5 percent of the total population.

Having met with regional representatives of the Conservatives, the minister said: “We agree that we reject the burqa, we agree that we want to introduce a legal requirement to show one's face in places where it is necessary for our society's coexistence: at the wheel, at public offices, at the registry office, in schools and universities, in the civil service, in court.” 

The Muslim burqa – a full-body covering –  “does not belong in our cosmopolitan country,” the interior minister said, stressing that wearing a burqa will be prohibited in certain public places, but not as a cultural practice.

“We want to show our faces to each other and that is why we agree that we reject this. The question is how we put this into law,” de Maiziere said.

In turn, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND) group of newspapers that, in her opinion, “a completely covered woman has almost no chance of integrating herself in Germany.”

The head of the German government did not, however, go as far as expressing unconditional support to the idea of a burqa ban, stressing that "This is a question of finding the right political and legal balance, and Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière has my full support in finding a solution,” TheLocal.de reported her as saying.

The bill implies banning burqas from public offices – namely schools, universities, kindergartens and child care institutions, in government offices and courts (members of the jury and witnesses included), in registrar and civil registration offices, at passport and transport controls, during rallies and demonstrations, also while driving a vehicle.

De Maiziere made it clear that the “blanket ban” on burqas suggested by the right wing of the ruling Christian Union bloc is a non-starter, but expressed hope that the Bundestag lower house would support the current bill.

The burqa ban bill presents a compromise with the hardline right wing of Merkel’s right-left “grand coalition” ahead of two key state elections next month, where the populist right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is expected to show gains.

Back in 2009, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees held a poll which revealed that two out of three Muslim women in Germany did not even wear a headscarf, let alone burqa or niqab – which fully covers the head, except for the eyes.

I wonder if that is still true today?

In Merkel’s cabinet, Labor Minister Andrea Nahles, representing the junior partner in Merkel's ruling coalition, the Social Democrats (SPD), said the burqa ban demands prove that political discourse in Germany is becoming “increasingly xenophobic,” Reuters reported.

Bulgaria Becomes Third Country to Ban the Burqa

Invisible women not allowed in Bulgaria

MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP/Getty Images

by DONNA RACHEL EDMUNDS

The Bulgarian Parliament has overwhelmingly given the green light to a proposed ban on the wearing of burqas in the country, with only eight Members of Parliament voting against it.

The bill’s approval means that Bulgaria is on track to becoming the third European country, after France and the Netherlands, to ban clothing that covers the face in public places. Women who defy the ban will be fined 200 leva (£80) for the first offence, increasing to 1,500 leva and the cancelling of social benefits for subsequent offences, the Sofia Globe has reported.

In addition, those who persuade others to wear the veil will be fined 5,000 leva and face up to three years in prison, while for those who persuade minors to wear the veil the penalties are increased to 10,000 leva and a maximum of five years’ jail time.

The bill was tabled by the Patriotic Front (PF), who have already been instrumental in getting local bans put in place. The text makes it clear that the bill is aimed at “the aggressive enforcement of limits to personal freedom and human dignity of the women,” particularly in communities where “radical Islam exists,” reports Balkan Insight.

It was supported by the majority of the National Assembly’s 240 members, while the eight votes against came from Parliamentarians representing the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), and Turkish-rights party DOST. There were no abstentions.

The majority was not unexpected, however, as the bill was widely supported during the committee stages, with only the MRF putting up any meaningful opposition.

During the debate Lyutvi Mestan, the leader of DOST and former chair of the MRF called the bill “comic and pathetic”. MRF member Tuncher Kardjaliev, said the draft law addressed an artificial problem and slammed it as “pure populism”. And his MRF colleague Hamid Hamid said there was no need for a ban as the garment is only worn by a small number of Roma Salafists in the city of Pazardjik.

But Julian Angelov from the PF hit back: “The fact that we have 20 or 100 women with burqas does not mean that we should wait for them to become 150,000.”

The ban will cover Bulgarian citizens, migrants, and temporary residents, and applies to all public areas including parks, public and private transport, schools and gardens, but will not apply to private homes or places of worship. Exceptions may be made for medical or professional reasons, and during sporting and cultural events.

Muslims account for about 12 per cent of Bulgaria’s population, and mostly belong to a centuries old population made up mostly of ethnic Turks, among which the wearing of the veil is not common. But the garment has gained popularity with Roma Salafists living mostly in the central city of Pazardjik.

The city already has a regional ban, put in place in April to diffuse tension between communities and to boost security following the terrorist attacks on Paris and Brussels.

“I am tired to hear that Pazardjik is the town of the burqas. We want to say aloud that we are not that, but a town of responsible people and we will be associated with other achievements,” Mayor Todor Popov told national radio at the time, according to the Telegraph.