PARIS – President Nicolas Sarkozy's governing conservative party held a politically charged conference Tuesday on ways to strengthen secularism in French society, amid worries that it would stigmatize France's millions of Muslims.
The UMP were considering 26 ideas that party officials say are aimed at bringing France's stringent laws decreeing the separation of church from state into step with the times. With Europe's largest Muslim population — estimated at about 5 million — France is much changed from 1905, when the secularism laws were adopted, and they're in urgent need of revamping, the party argues.
The proposals discussed Tuesday include banning the wearing of religious symbols such as Muslim headscarves or prominent Christian crosses by day-care personnel and preventing Muslim ******* from wearing headscarves when accompanying school field trips. It also would prevent parents from taking their ******** out of mandatory subjects including gym and biology.
The debate could lead to a legislative bill in the National Assembly, where the UMP has a majority.
The round-table comes about a week before a new law banning garments that hide the face takes effect. Under the measure, which takes effect on April 11, women who wear the face-shrouding veils risk a fine, special classes and a police record.
The discussion also comes as Sarkozy's poll numbers continue to slide and as the far-right National Front resurges under its new party leadership. Critics from the opposition Socialist party contend the debate is an electoral ploy aimed at appealing to voters who could be swayed by the National Front.
