It will be interesting to see how an EU-wide ban on Islamic face veils will play out, given Turkey’s recent antagonism toward Europe and declaration of holy war over the Islamic veil, as well as Europe’s reckless immigration policy that has allowed for jihadist (including Islamic State) infiltration. Turkey recently accused Europe of starting a clash between “the crescent and the cross” by ruling that employers were allowed to ban headscarves and other religious symbols at work. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan went on to declare: “Down with your European principles, values and justice”.
In July, following a brutal attack on a church in Normandy, when armed jihadists beheaded a priest and took hostages after storming in, the head of the EPP, Jean-Claude Juncker, issued his own warning, which Turkey now seems to have substantiated. Juncker proclaimed to the Express that “this latest appalling murder in France shows militant Islam is at war with the people of Europe and with peaceful religions.” Juncker is correct, and Europe has every right to pursue its security objectives, beginning with the ban of face veils. Regrettably, it did not serve the interests of its people in letting floods of Muslim migrants into Europe in the first place.
“Jean-Claude Juncker’s party calls for EU-wide ban on Islamic face veils”, by Sofia Petkar, Express, April 7, 2017:
The European People’s Party adopted the measure as an official policy at its annual congress in Malta earlier this week, claiming the ban should be introduced “both for reasons of security and because seeing one another’s faces is an integral part of human interaction in Europe”.
The EPP, a centre-right liberal conservative group which Jean-Claude Juncker represents, holds 216 seats in the 751 member European Parliament.
The group is affiliated with major governing parties including Angela Merkel’s EDU, the French Republicans and Spain’s People’s Party.
The group’s leader Manfred Weber told German media “We want a total ban of face covering in the EU.”
Mr Weber is a member of Angela Merkel’s CDU/CSU alliance in Germany.
Britain’s Conservative party was once a member of the EPP, but left to form the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists in 2009, claiming the EPP was no longer eurosceptic enough.
The EPP’s resolution, while not binding, does give a strong indication of the direction of its membership.
According to a source within the party, the hope is for the proposal to be discussed at EU level, but there is general acceptance within the group that such a ban would not be within current EU competencies.
Face covering bans have been introduced in a number of European countries in recent years.
A face covering ban was introduced across France in 2010, followed swiftly by parts of Switzerland….