France’s National Assembly is set to receive a bill aiming to ban the use of hijab in sports by Muslim women.
The bill aimed at “democratizing sport” will move to the National Assembly after the Senate Wednesday declined to vote on the legislation, Reuters reports.
The bill stipulates that wearing of “conspicuous religious symbols is prohibited” in events organized by sporting federations. But it includes a clause, previously attached as an amendment by the conservative-dominated upper house, stipulating that the wearing “of conspicuous religious symbols is prohibited” in events and competitions organised by sports federations.
Conservatives in France argue the nation needs to remain staunchly secular, dividing church and state, while doing its best to accommodate Europe’s largest Muslim minority population.
The move is, however, opposed by President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist government and its allies who command a majority in the National Assembly, which has the final vote.
The place of religion and religious symbols worn in public is a long-running matter of controversy in France, a staunchly secular country and home to Europe’s largest Muslim minority.
Identity and Islam’s place in French society are hot-button issues ahead of April’s presidential election, with two far-right candidates whose nationalist programmes question Islam’s compatibility with the Republic’s values polling nearly 35% of voter support between them.
Macron’s government had been swift to denounce the amendment.
Given the majority wielded by his party and its allies in the lower house, the amendment is likely to be removed from the broader bill.
France will host the Summer Olympics in 2024 and critics of the legislation have questioned how it would affect protocol at the Games, whose participants will include conservative Muslim countries, if it were adopted.
Right-wing Senator Stéphane Piednoir said the Olympic Charter provided for political and religious neutrality.
“Our enemy is radical Islamism, not Islam,” Marlene Schiappa, junior minister for citizenship, said on Tuesday.
