Paris - In a speech he himself called 'an important moment,'
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Monday that women wearing the
burqa would not be accepted on French territory.
'The problem of the burqa is not a religious problem, it is a
problem of the dignity of women. It is a symbol of subservience, of
submission. The burqa will not be welcome in our French republic, '
Sarkozy said during his address before a joint session of the two
houses of Parliament in Versailles.
Sarkozy became the first French head of state to address lawmakers
in 150 years. The last French head of state to do so was
Charles-Louis Napoleon, in 1848.
His appearance was made possible by a July 2008 amendment of the
French constitution, which had prohibited a sitting president from
addressing lawmakers.
Sarkozy's comments on the burqa were inspired by a resolution
introduced last week, and now signed by 80 lawmakers, calling for the
creation of a parliamentary committee of inquiry into the wearing of
the burqa on French territory.
A burqa is the most concealing of all Islamic veils as it covers
the entire face and body, leaving only a mesh screen to see through.
In his address, the French president also vowed to implement a
form of affirmative action to do away with social inequality.
'Who does not see that our model of integration no longer works?'
Sarkozy said. 'To achieve equality, we must know how to give more to
those who have less.'
To attain that goal, a form of affirmative action would be put
into effect that was 'not based on ethnic criteria but on social
criteria,' Sarkozy said.
When US President Barack Obama came to Paris as a presidential
candidate in July 2008, Sarkozy had vowed to implement affirmative
action as had been done in the United States. But he has run up
against widespread opposition to the idea.
The project for equality would be a 'top priority' of his new
government, Sarkozy said, and announced that a ministerial re-shuffle
would be announced Wednesday.
If in the first part of his address Sarkozy sounded like a
left-wing social reformer, with his defence of women's rights, his
call for equality and a vow to improve prison conditions, he soon
returned to his favourite subject, the reduction of public spending
and the reform of the country's bureaucracy.
The question of pension reform would be tackled by mid-2010, he
said, including a possible increase of the retirement age. He also
vowed to continue to reduce of the number of civil servants by
replacing only one of two retiring public sector workers.
Sarkozy also addressed the problem of France's growing budget
deficit, which Budget Minister Eric Woerth said late Sunday would
balloon to 7 to 7.5 per cent of GDP in 2009 and 2010. The EU's
Stability Pact sets a deficit ceiling of 3 per cent of GDP.
Sarkozy said that the part of the deficit based on structural
inefficiency 'must be reduced to zero,' while that to the economic
crisis would be reduced by investment.
There would be be no austerity program and no tax increase,
Sarkozy vowed.
Sarkozy's appearance before lawmakers, in the context of the pomp
of Versailes, was severely criticized by the opposition Socialists
and their left-wing allies.
Many lawmakers also criticized the cost of the event, which was
estimated at about 400,000 euros (556,000 dollars).
The Green Party and the Communists boycotted the event, while the
Socialists refused to participate in a debate that took place after
Sarkozy's departure.
They charged that the speech was merely one more step in the
French president's plan to broaden his authority and influence over
every branch of government and more evidence of what they called his
'monarchical regime.'
Your Talkback on this Story