Might a headscarf bring down France’s coalition government? The question of whether the Islamic garment should be permitted on the sports field has revealed the ideological differences within Prime Minister Francois Bayrou’s fragile government.
On the one hand, there are left-leaning ministers such as Elisabeth Borne (Education) and Marie Barsacq (Sport and youth) who see nothing wrong with the headscarf. Others, principally, Gérald Darmanin (Justice) and Bruno Retailleau (Interior), are fiercely opposed. Retailleau recently took Barsacq to task over her stance, saying the headscarf ‘is not a form of freedom, but a form of submission for women’.
The headscarf is just the latest attempt by Islamists to destabilise France
On Tuesday, Darmanin warned that he would consider his future if the government appeared ‘in favour of the wearing of headscarves in sporting organisations’. His threat to resign came three days after Retailleau made a similar pledge if the government didn’t stand up to Algeria in an escalating row over Algiers’ refusal to take back its law-breaking nationals.
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