The leader of the far-right National Rally Party in France, Marine Le Pen, revealed on Friday a proposed law to prevent what she called "extremist thought", including expanding the headscarf ban to the public space in the country. She also spoke about a global war waged by this thought, and a plan to eliminate it, as she put it. .
This proposal comes 15 months before the presidential elections in France, in which Le Pen is one of the most prominent competitors to President Emmanuel Macron, as it came at a time when the French General Assembly (Parliament) is considering a bill on "isolationism", which targets what is described as "Islamic thought." The extremist party, "Le Pen considers this bill lacking" courage ", despite the controversy it raised.
Le Pen said that she had a plan to eliminate what she described as "extremist ideologies," and likened the leader of the French far-right to what she described as the "extremist Islamic attack" to a comprehensive and global war, the first in the 21st century, as she put it.
Marine Le Pen considered that what she called "radical Islamic thought" is developing within departments and companies in France.
Le Pen's party aims to prevent Islamic dress and veil in public space (Reuters - Archive)
A proposal to extend the ban on the veil
Le Pen aims to ban "Islamic dress" - headed by the veil - in the public space.
In this context, Jordan Bardella, the second man in the right-wing National Rally Party, considered that "the veil is a militant dress that seeks to separate" from the republic, as he claimed.
Currently, it is forbidden in France to wear the headscarf and all religious symbols shown in schools, and state employees must adhere to the principle of "neutrality" with regard to religions.
The law proposal submitted by the National Rally Party stipulates "to prevent the practice, manifestation and publication of extremist Islamic thought in the cinema, the press, and the school."
In the same context, European Parliament member Jean-Paul Garrow confirmed in Le Figaro newspaper that the new law proposal “does not infringe on the freedom of conscience,” and stressed that it “prohibits any public manifestation of an ideology that in itself represents a major problem for the system. This also applies to Nazism, for example. "
The "National Assembly" does not give in its proposal a definition of "extremist Islamic thought," but describes it as "inconsistent" with the "rights, freedoms and principles" contained in the French constitution by "refusing to respect the secularism of the state" and "the factors of separation that it incites."
In this regard, Le Pen encourages employers to "add the possibility of religious neutrality in their domestic law," and even ban the wearing of the headscarf, according to the party's second-in-command.
The proposed law also stipulates that "extremist Islamic thought" "is an aggravating circumstance" when it is associated with any offense or crime, with the possibility of withdrawing the French nationality from the perpetrator.
On the other hand, the government's draft law on "isolationism" includes measures to strengthen the neutrality of state agencies, combat hate on the Internet, tighten control over associations, and give greater transparency to the activities of religious communities.
It should be noted that Marine Le Pen - who ran twice in the presidential elections and was defeated in the last by a large margin (receiving 33% of the vote) by Emmanuel Macron - occupies a leading position in the voting intentions for the 2022 elections.
A poll conducted by "Harris Interactive" and published in several newspapers predicted;
That Le Pen was hardly defeated by Macron in the second round of the upcoming presidential elections, by obtaining 48% of the vote.
And Le Pen considered that the hypothesis of her victory in the elections "credible and even reasonable."
But experts warn that it is still too early to judge opinion polls, as no institution expected Macron to win the 2017 elections, until shortly before the polls.