President Sarkozy threw his weight yesterday behind attempts to bar French Muslim women from covering their faces in public, calling their full-body dress a “debasement of women”.

Mr Sarkozy made his attack on a small but growing number of fundamentalist women in a “state of the nation” speech that was the first by a French President to both houses of parliament since 1873.

Talking in the ornate chamber of the Château de Versailles Mr Sarkozy also rejected calls to raise taxes and promised to accelerate his project to remake France despite the deep recession. His strong words on the niqab and the burka were part of a confident personal performance review that was decried by the opposition as a selfaggrandising stunt.

“In our country we cannot accept that women be prisoners behind a screen, cut off from all social life, deprived of all identity,” Mr Sarkozy said to applause in the parliament’s ceremonial Versailles home.

“The burka is not a religious sign. It is a sign of subservience, a sign of debasement,” he added. “It will not be welcome on the territory of the French Republic.”

Mr Sarkozy was adding his voice to a strong consensus that has emerged this month against women in France’s five million-strong Muslim community who wear the full or nearly-full cover of their bodies and faces. The latest French controversy over Muslim dress, which follows the 2004 ban on head-cover in state schools, began this month when 60 MPs from both sides of the house demanded action against the burka and the niqab.

“A debate has to take place and all views must be expressed,” said Mr Sarkozy. “What better place than parliament for this? I tell you we must not be ashamed of our values, we must not be afraid of defending them.”

Many on the Left disapprove of what is seen as a small rise in women adopting fundamentalist dress — they are said to number several thousand. But they are unhappy with what they see as Mr Sarkozy’s enthusiasm for action that would further stigmatise a big immigrant population that is excluded from much of mainstream life.

Muslim leaders reacted cautiously to Mr Sarkozy’s words on the niqab and burka. Dalil Boubakeur, rector of the Great Mosque of Paris, called the President’s remarks “in keeping with the republican spirit of secularism”. Moderate Muslims also saw full face-covering as a symbol of submission, said Mr Boubakeur.

Measures against face cover are supported by two of the three women Muslims in the Cabinet but other ministers are questioning the wisdom of legislation that could be impossible to enforce.

It would also risk further criticism of France abroad. This month President Obama attacked the French headscarf rule in a speech in Cairo, saying that the United States did not believe that the Government should dictate people’s dress.

Boosted by victory for his party in the European Parliament elections Mr Sarkozy devoted his speech to promising to continue the reforms that he began implementing after his election in May 2007. He is to stage his first medium-sized Cabinet reshuffle tomorrow to open a second phase of his five-year administration. Among those departing are Rachida Dati, the Justice Minister, and Michael Barnier, the Farm Minister.

The joint parliamentary session at Versailles was attacked by all the opposition parties as an act of selfpromotion by a President with monarchical pretensions. The speech was made possible by a change in the constitution that Mr Sarkozy introduced last year.

Since the late 19th century French presidents had been barred from appearing in parliament under rules intended to reinforce the separation of powers. The Socialist Party boycotted the debate after his speech and MPs from small Green and Communist parties boycotted a session that they depicted as an attempt by Mr Sarkozy to play Louix XIV, the Sun King, who based the Royal Court at Versailles.

DRESS CODE

— In France a law was passed in 2004 banning pupils from wearing "conspicuous" religious symbols at state schools, a move widely interpreted as aimed at the Muslim headscarf

— In Turkey where 99 per cent of the population is Muslim, all forms of Muslim headscarf have been banned in universities for decades under the secular government. In June 2008 the country's Consitutional Court overruled government attempts to lift the ban, prompting protests

— In Britain guidelines say that the full Islamic veil should not be worn in courts, but the final decision is up to judges. Schools may forge their own dress codes and in 2006, courts upheld the suspension of Aishah Azmi, a Muslim teaching assistant who refused to remove her veil in class

— German states have the option of choosing to ban teachers and other government employees from wearing Muslim headscarves; four have done so

—The Italian parliament in July 2005 approved anti-terrorist laws that make hiding one's features from the public — including through wearing the burla — an offence

— Tunisia, a Muslim country, has banned Islamic headscarves in public places since 1981. In 2006 authorities began a campaign against the headscarves and began strictly enforcing the ban

— The Dutch Government said in 2007 that it was drawing up legislation to ban burkas, but it was defeated in elections in November and the new centrist coalition said it had no plans to implement a ban

Source: Times database

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