French Prime Minister François Fillon announced to Parliament on April 27 that by next July his government would push for a new law prohibiting full head-coverings. The Muslim face-veils, called the niqab or burqa, are described by women's right defenders as “walking prisons.”
Fillon did not say whether the law would follow an “emergency procedure” that would allow it to be passed by a single vote in Parliament before being reviewed by the Senate. Such a decision would be unwelcome, claim Parliament and Senate Presidents Bernard Accoyer and Gerard Larcher, who wish both chambers examine the law twice so as to ensure due process. Read more.
Fillon did not say whether the law would follow an “emergency procedure” that would allow it to be passed by a single vote in Parliament before being reviewed by the Senate. Such a decision would be unwelcome, claim Parliament and Senate Presidents Bernard Accoyer and Gerard Larcher, who wish both chambers examine the law twice so as to ensure due process. Read more.