Merkel proposes ban on face veils

Germany’s conservative CDU party has proposed a ban on the burqa and other full-face veils in schools and universities.

The proposal, announced on 19 August, would prevent women from wearing full-face veils while in government organisations, including universities and schools, and while driving. Chancellor Angela Merkel said that “a fully veiled woman has almost no chance of integrating successfully”.

Senior CDU figures had called for a total ban on the burqa, a garment enveloping the whole body, most commonly worn by women in Afghanistan. But Germany’s interior minister Thomas de Maizière said that this had been dropped because it would have been considered unconstitutional.