A plenary session of the Balearic Parliament approved a motion calling on the Spanish government to ban the use of full-face veils in Spain. The motion was passed with the support of the conservative Partido Popular and far right Vox, while the Socialist Party, the independents Més per Mallorca and far-left Unidas Podemos voted against restricting it (Més per Menorca abstained), accusing the Partido Popular of ‘seeking headlines’ with a ‘racist’ proposal.
Balearrc MP Cristina Gil defended the Partido Popular text, which remained unchanged. The PP did not accept Vox's amendment to extend the requested ban to the hijab, and although the former partners had agreed on another amendment, it could not be voted on due to opposition from Més.
Gil had argued that the burqa constitutes ‘a prison of fabric’ and that Western law cannot allow this symbol to become normalised in public spaces: ‘It renders women invisible and annihilates them, reducing them to a curtain.’ Appealing to case law, she has justified limiting restrictions to the full veil and not to the hijab, as Vox demands.
On the left, Més coordinator Lluís Apesteguia reiterated that the proposal only seeks to ‘gain electoral advantage’, criticising the competition between the PP and Vox. He warned the PP: ‘Between the original and the copy, people will end up choosing the original’, words that earned him applause from Vox MPs.
Despite expressing her desire to see the veil disappear, the eco-sovereignist argued that a direct ban could exacerbate the problems of isolation faced by Muslim women.