AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): The return of this issue this time was accompanied by statements from Jean-Philippe Tanguy, a National Rally MP. He announced that his party wants to fine veiled women in public places and linked this action to what he calls the fight against the ideology of Islamism.
Tanguy, who is considered one of Marine Le Pen's closest aides in the presidential election, announced on Sunday, August 30, that the party intends to impose fines for wearing the Islamic hijab in public places if Le Pen wins the election.
The newspaper Libération quoted him as saying that this issue has been finalized within the party, and from his perspective, the wearing of the hijab in France has gotten out of control.
But this stance quickly led to a political and legal confrontation. The French government expressed doubts about the constitutionality of this measure and its feasibility.
Maud Bregeon, the French government spokesperson, said there are clear doubts about this proposal. Any discussion about religious symbols in the public space also raises the issue of equal treatment of different religions.
The French newspaper Libération also, quoting French journalist Ilan Gabay, wrote that this action is incompatible with Article 10 of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which is one of the foundations of the French Republic.
French Left's Opposition to Fining Veiled Women
France's left-wing parties also quickly attacked the proposal.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon described the plan as vile and said that French secularism should guarantee freedom of conscience and belief, not forbid citizens from expressing their beliefs in public.
Danielle Obono, a member of the La France Insoumise party, also emphasized that punishing women for wearing the hijab contradicts the concept of secularism as a framework for protecting freedom of belief.
Division Within Le Pen's Party
However, the battle over the hijab is not only between the National Rally and its opponents, but has also revealed internal divisions within the party on this issue.
According to L'Express, Marine Le Pen continues to insist on banning the hijab as one of her long-standing political promises, while Jordan Bardella, the president of the National Rally, has doubts about its feasibility.
Bardella had previously said that implementing a complete ban on the hijab on the streets would be a complex task.
In 2012, Le Pen proposed banning the hijab or any other overt religious symbol in public services and administration. In September of that year, she extended the scope of this ban to all public spaces and called for a ban on the hijab and the kippah, a statement that even faced widespread criticism within the right wing.
The newspaper L'Opinion also writes that statements by National Rally leaders in recent days have been contradictory. After Tanguy spoke of fining veiled women, other spokespersons of the party tried to tone down the position.
Bardella also tried to calm public opinion by saying he does not intend to create a dress code police.
Hijab; An Electoral Slogan or an Electoral Liability?
It appears that the internal divisions within the National Rally are partly rooted in electoral calculations.
According to an L'Opinion report, some National Rally leaders believe that the party's voter base strongly supports a ban on the hijab, but turning this issue into a central political battle could hurt the National Rally in the second round of the presidential election, because the party needs to expand its voter base beyond its traditional supporters to win.
For this reason, the hijab issue is both an opportunity and an electoral risk for Le Pen, an issue that can mobilize the traditional far-right base but may alienate moderate voters from the National Rally.
Attempting to Bypass the Constitutional Barrier Through a Referendum
The National Rally, if Le Pen comes to power, seeks to raise this issue through a public referendum to bypass political and legal obstacles.
According to a previous report by Le Monde, Le Pen intends to propose a law to combat Islamic ideologies that may include a ban on the hijab in public places.
However, the scope and method of implementing this proposal have gradually become more limited. Bardella has spoken of a referendum on a broader set of measures, while some other National Rally leaders have announced that the plan may first be implemented in public institutions and then extended to the streets.
L'Opinion believes this gradual process reflects the difficulty of turning an electoral slogan into an implementable policy, especially since a complete ban on the hijab will face serious constitutional and legal questions.
The French Constitution; The Biggest Obstacle to Le Pen's Project
The legal dimension is one of the most important battlegrounds over this plan.
Vincent Brengarth, a lawyer at the Paris Bar, in a note on the Mediapart website, believes that a general ban on the hijab faces a serious risk of being unconstitutional, as it restricts freedom of conscience and belief, as well as freedom of religious expression, freedoms protected by the French Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights.
He emphasizes that any restriction on these freedoms must be applied only to the extent necessary and must be based on a specific threat to public order or the rights of others.
According to this lawyer, the proposal to ban the hijab raises a fundamental question: on what basis can the state forbid a woman from wearing the hijab on the street?
The website Les Inrockuptibles also recalls that French law in 2010 banned face-covering in public places, but the hijab, which leaves the face uncovered, is not subject to this ban.
The European Court of Human Rights in 2014 also upheld the face-covering law based on specific considerations, including the concept of living together, a matter that does not automatically imply that a ban on the hijab is permissible.
The website also writes that none of the European countries that have imposed restrictions on face-covering have banned adult women from wearing the hijab on the street. Therefore, if France implements a complete ban on the hijab, it will face an unprecedented action.
Hijab; A Battle Beyond a Garment
In this way, the hijab issue has transformed from a discussion about religious dress into a broader battle over the identity of the French Republic, the limits of secularism, individual freedom, and the role of the state.
The National Rally links the hijab to fighting Islamism, protecting republican values, and defending women's freedom. In response, the party's opponents believe that equating a religious symbol with extremism leads to restricting freedom of belief and targeting a specific group.
According to Libération, the reintroduction of the hijab ban reflects Le Pen's commitment to one of her most controversial files, despite the legal and political risks it faces.
L'Express also sees the internal divisions within the National Rally as a sign of the difficulty of balancing satisfying the voter base and increasing the chances of electoral victory.
The Memory of the 2022 Controversy
This issue had also caused a major controversy in 2022.
Between the two rounds of the French presidential election that year, Marine Le Pen found herself in a difficult position when a woman wearing a white hijab directly questioned her about the issue.
Le Pen described the woman's hijab as merely a symbol of grandmothers, and the next day, in explaining her remarks, said she was not stupid and was referring to a complex issue.
Her supporters also tried to encourage her to moderate her tone to improve her electoral image. Emmanuel Macron, during the election debate, accused Le Pen of preparing for civil war by proposing an unworkable measure.
Le Pen's New Front on the Path to the 2027 French Elections
Now Le Pen has once again opened a new front on the path to the 2027 French presidential election, but this time she faces more than one opponent.
The French government has doubts about the constitutionality of the plan, political opponents oppose it, legal obstacles could prevent its implementation, and the National Rally itself is divided between those who want to insist on this political symbol and those who fear the issue may become an electoral liability.
As the elections approach, it appears that the battle over the hijab will no longer be merely a discussion about what women wear on the streets of France, but will become a test of the ability of the country's far-right to turn its most controversial slogans into implementable policies.
**************
End/ 345E
