France is a secular country and President Sarkozy said that veils are not welcome in France as they as they intimidate and alienate non Muslims.
So any woman who is wearing a Burqa in public place, in public buildings may have to pay a fine of more than £700 under the new laws being formulated in France.
Jean-Francois Cope, president of Nicolas Sarkozy’s ruling UMP Party in the French parliament, said the new legislation was intended to protect the ‘dignity’ and ‘security’ of women.
Not only that if any Muslim man forces his wife or other females of his family to cover their face he would have to pay double fine.
In earlier debates Mr Cope said: ‘Permanently masking one’s face in public spaces is not an expression of individual liberty. It’s a negation of oneself, a negation of others, a negation of social life.’
President Sarkozy called them ‘a sign of subservience and debasement that imprison women’, saying they are ‘not welcome in France’.
The country’s immigration minister Eric Besson has also described them as ‘an affront to national identity’.
The latest move to outlaw such garments comes as a national identity debate rages between those defending multiculturalism, and those who believe France is being overrun by foreign cultures.
But there are five million Muslims staying in France, the largest Muslim population in Europe and complete ban may face some legal obstacles it can also be challenged before the European Court of Human Rights on the grounds that it limits religious freedom.
