Luxembourg Christian Social Party the CSV is drawing up a text to propose the banning of the wearing of burkas in Luxembourg.
The party plans to table a debate on a potential prohibition of the full-length veil, covering the face, which is worn in public by some Muslim women.
CSV MEP Viviane Reding said the goal of such a ban would be to promote and protect equal rights of women in Luxembourg society.
The issue is being raised as Luxembourg prepares to house and integrate hundreds of refugees, of all religious faiths. It was also a topic raised during an information meeting with the inhabitants of Chiem, on the Kirchberg plateau, whose homes are close to a new emergency asylum centre in Hall 6 of Luxexpo.
The consensus of residents who spoke appeared to be that people wishing to live in Luxembourg should respect the country’s law and customs.
The topic was also at the heart of a Luxembourg petition, which became active at the beginning of October.
The petition calls for the creation of a law preventing people from covering their faces in a public place.
“Nowadays many people feel very ill at ease when they meet people whose face is covered, for example in the supermarkets, on the carparks and in the street,” the petition author wrote, adding: “Women who practice the wearing of a veil which covers the face thus would have to obey the law and habits of our country.”
According to recent estimations, fewer than 100 women in Luxembourg wear the burka. Unlike in Belgium and France, there is no ban on the wearing of the covering. However, complete concealment of the body is forbidden in state schools in Luxembourg.
In June 2014, the European Court of Justice for human rights said that European Union member states have the right to forbid the practice of wearing full body veils.