Source: Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BL3NV20091222
France's ruling UMP party plans to present a bill to parliament in January on banning full Islamic veils in all public places and not just in certain buildings, a senior party official said on Tuesday.
The bill would be accompanied by a resolution related to respect for women, Jean-Francois Cope, the parliamentary party leader of President Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP, told a news conference.
Both propositions would be handed to parliament during the first two weeks of January, before the conclusions of a French parliamentary inquiry into the all-covering niqab and burqa are published.
France has been moving toward outlawing full Islamic veils in certain public buildings and had appeared to stop short of a broader ban that could violate religious freedom and deepen a rift in the government.