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Germany Proposes Partial Ban on Face Veils in Public Places Germany, Like France, Questions Place of Islamic Veils in Its Society
(about 5 hours later)
BERLIN — Under growing pressure from the far right in German state elections next month, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc said on Friday that Muslim women should be barred from wearing face veils in schools, universities and when driving. BERLIN — Europe’s battle over public attire for Muslim women moved on Friday from the outcry over banning “burkinis” in France to a strong call from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s governing conservative bloc for a ban in Germany on face veils in schools and universities and while driving.
The proposal, which would ban the wearing of veils in any circumstance in which showing one’s face is essential to establishing identity, was announced by the interior minister, Thomas de Maizière, who has been under increased pressure after a series of terrorist assaults and a gun rampage last month. The German proposal, announced by the interior minister, Thomas de Maizière, was clearly driven by an intensifying political season and a surge in support for the far right since Germany accepted more than a million refugees last year. There has been mounting public anxiety over integrating the refugees, who are mostly from Muslim countries, particularly after a series of terrorist assaults and a gun rampage last month.
More than a million refugees, many of them Muslim, have come to Germany over the past 18 months, seeking asylum in a country that has traditionally granted it to those fleeing war. In September, Ms. Merkel extended a special welcome to Syrian refugees, a move that swelled the intake and that eventually led to a backlash and contributed to a rise in support for the far right. The German plan arrives on the heels of a heated debate in France over the burkini — a full-body swimsuit with a head covering — since a handful of cities joined the mayor of the French Rivieria town of Cannes in banning the garment from city beaches. Prime Minister Manuel Valls of France supported the move, calling the swimsuit a sign of the enslavement of women.
Recent attacks by refugees, including a stabbing on a train and a suicide bombing at a music festival, have added pressure on Ms. Merkel, who faces a general election next year, to show that she can balance security concerns with her “we can do it” policy. In Germany, there have been only isolated disputes over the burkini, and the reaction to the controversy in neighboring France might best be summed up by the comment on Mr. Valls’s statement in the business daily Handelsblatt: “Does the man really have no other problems?”
Mr. de Maizière and Ms. Merkel stopped short of calling for an outright ban of the burqa, which covers the entire body except for a semitransparent panel over the eyes, or of other Muslim cloaks, which they have said would not win approval from the country’s constitutional court. The proposal allows coverings like the hijab, a head scarf that does not cover the face. Yet the proposals now being floated in Germany around restricting the burqa make it clear that France is not the only European country grappling with whether some Islamic coverings amount to a barrier to the full participation of women in Western society.
Germany’s system of government, carefully constructed after the Nazi era to prevent the accumulation of state powers, means the authorities interfere less than officials do in countries like France, where the preservation of secularism is a long-established norm. France banned face-covering veils in 2010, and this summer several towns prohibited so-called burkinis, swimsuits that leave only the face, hands and feet exposed, from their beaches. Ms. Merkel had sent a signal about the partial ban on face veils on Thursday, when she told a group of provincial newspapers that “from my standpoint, a fully veiled woman scarcely has a chance at full integration in Germany.”
Announcing the proposal on Friday, Mr. de Maizière was flanked by the conservative leaders of two states that will hold elections next month — Lorenz Caffier of the northern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in the east, and Frank Henkel of the city-state of Berlin. Both men are running on strong law-and-order platforms and had called for a ban on veils. Mr. de Maizière said the same day that “the burqa doesn’t fit with our country and does not correspond to our understanding of the role of women.”
“The burqa does not belong in Germany,” Mr. Caffier said this week, and Mr. Henkel called the covering “a cloth cage.” Mr. de Maizière and Ms. Merkel stopped short of calling for an outright ban on the burqa, but the proposal put forward on Friday tiptoes along a path that the French traveled down with a 2010 law that barred any covering that hides the face.
Both men appeared to accept the compromise outlined by Mr. de Maizière, who appeared on morning television to show support for the proposal. The French, too, put forward the law ostensibly on the grounds of public safety. Yet they have since found that defining a face covering and enforcing the law are challenging, at best. As of the spring of 2015, it had resulted in about 1,000 fines, but many of them were for repeat offenders. Many Muslims in France criticize the law for further marginalizing Muslim women, effectively forcing them to stay home, rather than easing their integration.
“We unanimously reject the burqa; it does not fit with our liberal society,” he told the public broadcaster ZDF, although he refrained from calling for an outright ban. Germany’s system of government, carefully constructed after the Nazi era to prevent the accumulation of state powers, means the authorities interfere less than officials in neighboring France, where the preservation of secularism is a long-established norm.
Instead, he said, “we have agreed that we want to make it a legal requirement to show your face in places where that is necessary for the cohesion of our society.” The German plan would not ban shawls or abayas that cover the body and are often worn with a hijab, a head scarf that does not cover the face, which German officials acknowledge would not win approval from the country’s constitutional court.
Appearing later with Mr. Caffier and Mr. Henkel, the interior minister specified that Muslim women should not wear face veils in schools, colleges, while driving, appearing before courts or at public registry offices, or when going through passport control. Women who want to wear a face veil in public should not teach or become civil servants, he said. It would ban full face veils in schools and colleges, and while driving, appearing before courts or at public registry offices, or when going through passport control. Women who want to wear a face veil in public should not teach or become civil servants, Mr. de Maizière said in announcing the plan on morning television.
There are no official statistics on the number of women in Germany who wear burqas or niqabs, but neither form of attire is seen much on German streets. “We want to make it a legal requirement to show your face in places where that is necessary for the cohesion of our society,” he said.
Conservative calls for at least a partial ban on face coverings have swelled as the governing bloc — Ms. Merkel’s Christian Democrats, and a sister party in Bavaria — have lost ground to the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany. The far-right party has called for a ban on veils and even on minarets on mosques, and it views Islam as incompatible with the German Constitution. He was flanked by the conservative leaders of two states with elections next month — Lorenz Caffier of the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and Frank Henkel of the city-state of Berlin. Both men are running on strong law-and-order platforms and had called for a ban on veils.
“The burqa does not belong to Germany,” Mr. Caffier said this week, and Mr. Henkel called the covering “a cloth cage.”
Calls by conservatives for at least a partial ban on face coverings have swelled as the governing bloc — Ms. Merkel’s Christian Democrats and a sister party in Bavaria — have lost ground to the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany. The far-right party has called for a ban on veils and even on minarets on mosques, and it views Islam as incompatible with the German Constitution.
One of the leaders of Alternative for Germany, Jörg Meuthen, told the German news agency DPA on Friday that the conservatives’ proposal was an attempt to thwart the rise of the far right.One of the leaders of Alternative for Germany, Jörg Meuthen, told the German news agency DPA on Friday that the conservatives’ proposal was an attempt to thwart the rise of the far right.
He conceded that the burqa was rarely seen in Germany, but he said his party’s call for a ban was an attempt to pre-emptively address the matter before it became a wider issue.He conceded that the burqa was rarely seen in Germany, but he said his party’s call for a ban was an attempt to pre-emptively address the matter before it became a wider issue.
The proposal outlined on Friday was also an attempt to unite the conservatives, some of whom have opposed a ban on face veils. It is not clear if the proposal will become law. Ms. Merkel governs in a coalition with the center-left Social Democrats, several of whom have questioned the need for a ban and have expressed concerns that it will contribute to what they see as increasing xenophobia.
It is not clear if the proposal will become law. Ms. Merkel governs in a coalition with the center-left Social Democrats, many of whom have questioned the need for a ban and have expressed concern that it will contribute to what they see as increasing xenophobia. But some Social Democrats have supported a ban on full-face coverings.
Germany is home to about four million Muslims, including three million from Turkey. Many of the more than one million refugees who arrived recently in the country are Muslims, often fleeing war in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. “The operative effect of a ban is close to zero,” said Heinz Buschkowsky, a Social Democrat who gained national attention when he was mayor in the heavily immigrant Berlin district of Neukölln. “But the burqa ban would send a social signal,” he told the newspaper Bild.
Ms. Merkel had sent a signal about a compromise on Thursday, when she told a group of provincial newspapers that “from my standpoint, a fully veiled woman scarcely has a chance at full integration in Germany.”
Mr. de Maizière said the same day that “the burqa doesn’t fit with our country and does not correspond to our understanding of the role of women.”
Some Social Democrats have supported a ban on head coverings for that reason.
“The operative effect of a ban is close to zero,” Heinz Buschkowsky, a Social Democrat who won national attention when he was mayor in the heavily immigrant Berlin district of Neukölln, told the mass circulation newspaper Bild. “But the burqa ban would send a social signal.”
“The burqa says the woman is property of the man, who can be seen by no one else,” he continued. “That is darkest Middle Ages, the opposite of self-determination. A burqa ban shows what does, and does not, work in our country.”“The burqa says the woman is property of the man, who can be seen by no one else,” he continued. “That is darkest Middle Ages, the opposite of self-determination. A burqa ban shows what does, and does not, work in our country.”
Germany is home to about four million Muslims, including three million from Turkey. Many of the more than one million refugees who arrived recently in the country are Muslims, often fleeing war in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.
There are no official statistics on the number of women in Germany who wear burqas or head scarves that cover their faces, but neither is seen much on German streets.
Similarly, the controversy over use of the burkini has been rare here. A woman of Lebanese origin from Berlin reportedly summoned the police to a thermal spa in the neighboring state of Brandenburg last weekend after she and her young daughter were asked not to swim in burkinis. Berlin, which has a large Muslim community, allows burkinis; Brandenburg has no regulation.
In the Danube River town of Melk, Austria, the burkini was suddenly banned late last month from a city swimming pool although officials had earlier rebuffed a far-right party calling for a ban.
But in an illustration of how opinions differ over the Muslim bathing attire, the Ruhr town of Dreieich reported having 12 burkinis to rent, either for swimming or for Muslim mothers who want to go poolside to watch their children swim.