Today, Tuesday, the Balearic Parliament approved the centre-right Partido Popular non-legislative proposal (PNL) to urge the Spanish government to ban the use of the burqa and niqab in public spaces. The motion was approved with votes in favour from the PP and far-right party Vox, two abstentions from Més per Menorca and 23 votes against from PSIB, MÉS per Mallorca and Unidas Podemos. PP MP Cristina Gil, who defended the proposal, stressed that ‘it is unacceptable that women are forced to cover themselves from head to toe’.
‘A democratic state cannot be oblivious to and indifferent to cultural and religious models or traditions that are contrary to non-negotiable principles: equality, dignity and freedom,’ she claimed. She also referred to the rejection of female genital mutilation, an issue that is also included in the NLP. ‘17,000 girls in Spain live at risk of female genital mutilation, an aberrant practice,’ she said.
The PP representative concluded that the motion ‘is not an attack on any religion or group,’ but rather goes against ‘practices that clash head-on’ with principles and values. Vox MP Sergio Rodríguez began his speech by emphasising that the NLP is ‘a Vox proposal watered down by the PP.’ Santiago Abascal’s party had already presented a similar initiative a few months ago, which was rejected by the PP.
Vox has presented amendments to the text calling for a ban on the Islamic veil, not just the full veil, according to Rodríguez, because ‘a woman’s dignity cannot be measured in centimetres of fabric’. The amendments have not been accepted. He also criticised the left for rejecting the proposal, accusing these groups of ‘allowing this symbol of discrimination against women’. ‘They accept it because of this nonsense about multiculturalism,’ he added.
Left-wing groups have rejected the proposal, arguing that it is a ‘competition between the PP and Vox to win votes’. Similarly, they have all stressed that the full Islamic veil subjugates women. However, they consider that the PP’s proposal ‘has nothing to do with this’, but rather seeks to be a ‘cheap copy’ of Vox. In the words of socialist Teresa Suárez, ‘it is a war to see who is more racist and who generates more hatred’.
MÉS per Mallorca MP Lluís Apesteguia has spoken out along these lines, arguing that a general ban on the Islamic veil is not an appropriate tool for its eradication. ‘They are not thinking about women, they are thinking about their competition with Vox,’ he reproached. With the approval of the proposal, the Balearic parliament urges the Spanish Government to reform the necessary legislation to ban the use of the full Islamic veil in all publicly owned buildings and facilities.
The approved motion stresses that the full Islamic veil constitutes a form of oppression and submission that violates the fundamental rights, equality and dignity of women. This point received the votes in favour of the PP and Vox, the vote against of Unidas Podemos and the abstentions of the rest of the groups.
Similarly, with 36 votes in favour (PP, Vox, Més per Menorca and Unidsa Podemos) and 22 abstentions (MÉS and PSIB), the Parliament declares that forced marriages and female genital mutilation are practices contrary to the fundamental values of Spanish society and seriously violate the fundamental rights and integrity of women and girls, and that they must be prosecuted and punished.
Finally, the chamber calls on the central government and the European Union to establish rules, sanctions and tougher penalties to punish the imposition of the full veil and practices such as forced marriages and female genital mutilation. On this last point, PP, Vox and Unidas Podemos voted in favour, MÉS per Mallorca abstained and PSIB voted against.