Paris: Muslim women who wear the full Islamic veil in France will face a possible EUR 750 (USD 1,000) fine, according to a draft bill unveiled on Thursday by the leader of the parliamentary majority.
Jean-Francois Cope, who heads the governing UMP party in the National Assembly, told Le Figaro newspaper's weekly magazine that men who force their wives to wear the burqa or niqab could face an even heavier fine.
"The law will address an issue of security," Cope said in an interview with the magazine.
"The proposed measure would prohibit the covering of the face in public places and on the streets, with the exception of special cultural events or carnivals."
The draft legislation will be presented in the next two weeks and should come up for debate in Parliament after the March regional elections, he said.
The majority leader, who is also openly campaigning to succeed President Nicolas Sarkozy as the right-wing candidate for the presidency in 2017, said the burqa must be banned to defend women's rights.
"We can measure the modernity of a society by the way it treats and respects women," he said.
France's political establishment is divided on whether to ban the burqa, with the opposition Socialists this week saying that it opposed a law even though Muslim women must be discouraged from wearing the full veil.
PTI
First Published: Friday, January 08, 2010, 09:21