Sarkozy Says Burqa Violates Dignity, ‘Not Welcome’
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By Helene Fouquet

June 22 (Bloomberg) -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the country’s National Assembly should debate a ban on the burqa, the Muslim garment that conceals a woman’s face and body, saying it was “not welcome” in France
“The burqa is not a religious sign, it’s a sign of servitude,” Sarkozy said today in a speech to both houses of parliament at the Versailles Palace on the outskirts of Paris. Calling it a violation of women’s “dignity and freedom,” Sarkozy said the burqa “will not be welcome on French soil.”
A group of French lawmakers have called for a total burqa ban. Sarkozy asked them to “open a debate” on the matter. Only a small minority of women wear burqas and the Opposition Socialist Party would favor a ban “of the burqa or the nikab,” Benoit Hamon, its spokesman, told Le Monde newspaper today.
The clothing rule would come five years after France outlawed head scarves and other “ostentatious” religious symbols, including large Christian crosses and Jewish skullcaps, in state offices and schools. The 2004 law prompted protests in France and criticism from some Muslim groups, including the second-in-command of al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Sarkozy’s speech today marked the first time a French president has addressed lawmakers since 1875 after a law preventing such direct communication was overturned last year.
Budget Minister Eric Woerth said yesterday the Burqa “should not exist in France.” Sarkozy characterized it today as a “fence” in front of women’s faces.
Mohammed Moussaoui, president of the French Council of the Muslim Faith, the government-recognized representative of Muslims, called the use of burqas in France “extremely marginal.”
In a statement today, he expressed “profound preoccupation” about “stigmatizing Islam and French Muslims.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Helene Fouquet in Paris at Hfouquet1@bloomberg.net. Last Updated: June 22, 2009 10:44 EDT