The Popular Party has registered this Tuesday in the Balearic Parliament a proposition not of law (PNL) to prohibit the use of the burqa and the niqab in public buildings. The initiative comes barely a month after Vox presented a bill on the same issue and in a political context marked by the controversy generated in Ibiza by a poster campaign on the full Islamic veil.
A limited proposal without criminal penalties
The PP initiative argues that the use of the full Islamic veil is incompatible with constitutional values, considering that it violates the equality between women and men and the dignity of the person. Unlike the proposal presented by Vox, the popular text is limited exclusively to public buildings and does not contemplate fines, prison sentences or expulsions, as it is a non-legislative proposal without direct regulatory effects.
PP deputy Cristina Gil stressed that the initiative is not against any religion, but aims to position itself “clearly in favor of freedom, dignity and equality of women”. According to her, the burqa and the niqab are symbols of submission that have no place in an advanced democratic society, so they should not be allowed in public spaces.
The non-law proposal registered by the PP argues that the imposition of the full Islamic veil is part of a set of practices that it considers contrary to fundamental rights, among which it also cites forced marriages and female genital mutilation. According to the text, these behaviors violate the equality and dignity of women and girls, so the Parliament should expressly position itself against them and promote their eradication.
The precedent: Vox’s law rejected in Parliament
The registration of this PNL comes a month after Vox presented a bill that proposed banning the burqa and the niqab in all public spaces in the Balearic Islands, not only in official buildings. That initiative included economic fines, prison sentences and expulsion from Spanish territory for recidivist foreigners, which implied modifications to the Penal Code and its subsequent debate in the Congress of Deputies.
The Ibizan Vox deputy Patricia de las Heras then defended that “the burqa and the niqab do not represent faith, they represent subjugation”.
Spotlight returns to Ibiza for the controversial poster
The debate on the full Islamic veil had a special impact in Ibiza after the installation, months ago, of a Vox poster in Sant Antoni, next to the bus station, which showed the comparative image of two women -one with burqa and one without- accompanied by the slogan “What Spain do you want?”. The campaign provoked political and social criticism, acts of vandalism and an investigation by the Public Prosecutor’s Office to determine whether it could constitute a hate crime.
The presentation of the PP initiative now reactivates this debate, although with a more limited focus and without references to criminal sanctions.
References to other countries and request to the central government
In its argumentation, the PP recalls that countries such as France, Belgium, Denmark, Austria, Bulgaria or Switzerland have already legislated to ban the full veil in public spaces, mainly for reasons of equality and security. In this context, the PNL also urges the central government to promote the necessary reforms to veto the use of the full Islamic veil in public buildings and facilities throughout Spain.
The popular deputy concluded by warning that “every seven seconds a girl is forced to marry in the world”, insisting that institutions have a moral and legal obligation to protect women and girls against any form of violence, oppression or discrimination, including practices such as forced marriages or female genital mutilation, which are also mentioned in the initiative.
