A controversy revives the debate on the veil in the public space

Fifteen years after the adoption of the law prohibiting religious symbols in French public schools, the debate on the wearing of the veil in the public space is once again in the news.

A controversy was triggered last weekend by Julien Odoul, an elected member of the National Rally. During a public meeting, Friday, October 11, at the Regional Council of Burgundy-Franche-Comté, he asked a mother, a companion during a class of CM2 of his son from a school in Belfort , to remove his veil.

🔴 [RT] In the name of our Republican and lay principles, I asked @MarieGuiteDufay to remove the Islamic veil from a school counselor present in the Chamber. After the assassination of our 4 policemen, we can not tolerate this communitarian provocation pic.twitter.com/3WzqDEC3nn

The exchange was filmed and broadcast on social networks. "I am going to ask you, in the name of our lay principles, to kindly ask the accompanist who has just returned to this room to remove her Islamic veil, we are in a public building," said Julien Odoul, who chairs the RN group within this regional council. While other elected representatives opposed his request, he left the room with the other elected RN, before denouncing in a statement an "Islamist provocation".

Convictions of the elected RN

Several members of the government condemned this weekend the attitude of the elected RN, and recalled that the woman arrested was in his right, while expressing differences on the wearing of the veil. A circular of March 2012 asked school-goers not to wear ostentatious religious symbols. But a December 2013 State Council study states that accompanying persons can not be considered auxiliary agents of the public service and are therefore not subject to the religious neutrality imposed on teachers.

The spokesman of the government, Sibeth Ndiaye, was particularly shocking the attitude of Julien Odoul. "Who is it to stigmatize a woman who accompanies children out of school?", She said on France 3.

The Minister of National Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, also criticized the reaction of the RN group to the regional council: "It is obviously to condemn and it is silly to arrive at this type of situation", a- he said on BFMTV. "The rule was clear, there was no ban on wearing the veil in this youth council, so there was no need to do that," he added. But the minister himself provoked controversy by adding that the "veil in itself was not desirable in our society, it is not something to encourage".

The reaction of the Minister of National Education

School trips: Blanquer prefers that an accompanying mother does not wear the veil because "it is not desirable in our society" pic.twitter.com/6hbOwc5tMB

Christian Jacob against wearing the veil during school outings

Freshly elected head of the Republicans, Christian Jacob also took part in this debate by calling for the ban on the wearing of the veil during field trips. "I'm shocked that we accept that a veiled person can accompany children on school trips because, how to explain that it is forbidden on the premises of the school, but that if we are in contact with children outside , and still in the school, it is allowed? ", he said Monday on France Inter, calling to reconnect with the directive by Luc Chatel, Minister of Education under Nicolas Sarkozy (2009-2012) .

Asked whether he clearly asked the government to ban the wearing of headscarves during outings, he then answered in the affirmative, saying that "from the moment when it was banned at school", it worth "for all school time".

@ ChJacob77: "It shocked me that a veiled person can accompany school trips, how to explain that it is forbidden in the establishment and that in contact with children it is authorized as part of an outing?" #the79Inter pic.twitter.com/97ytVVn9ZN

Two out of three French people favor banning the veil during school outings

According to an Ifop-Fiducial broadcast Monday, two French in three (66%) are in favor of the prohibition of conspicuous religious symbols, such as the wearing of the veil, parents of students who accompany school trips. Some 37% of respondents say they are "very favorable" to this ban.

This survey was conducted before the controversy this weekend. It was commissioned following the September broadcast of a CIPF poster defending the right for mothers of veiled Muslim students to accompany their children to field trips. This campaign had also sparked a lively debate.

The legislature will now seize the subject. The Senate will consider next week in committee a proposal for a law LR "tending to ensure the religious neutrality of persons contributing to the public service of education". Presented by Senator Val-d'Oise Jacqueline Eustache-Brinio, the text will be considered in public session on October 29th.

When considering the bill "for a school of trust", the majority Senate on the right had already adopted an amendment LR to prohibit ostentatious religious symbols during field trips. The provision had not been retained in the text finally adopted by Parliament.

With AFP