(Politico) French Prime Minister François Bayrou on Tuesday delivered a scathing critique of his predecessor and centrist ally Gabriel Attal’s proposal to ban Muslim headscarves for minors under 15.
Attal, the leader of President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance political party, publicly floated the proposal following a report on alleged attempts by groups supposedly tied to the Egypt-based Muslim Brotherhood to “infiltrate” French society and promote a fundamentalist agenda. The report — described by some experts as “alarmist” — cited instances of particularly young girls wearing headscarves.
While Bayrou acknowledged that the document contained useful elements, he said in an interview with RMC that the “scale” of the issue still needs to be assessed and the government must tread carefully out of respect for France’s law-abiding Muslim community.
