I'm sure this will go over well with those religious pacifists who like their womenfolk wearing Hefty bags.
Women who wear Islamic veils in public in France face a £700 fine under strict new laws being proposed.
The amount could be doubled for Muslim men who force female members of their family to cover their faces.
Jean-Francois Cope, president of Nicolas Sarkozy’s ruling UMP Party, said the legislation was intended to protect the ‘dignity’ and ‘security’ of women.
He is set to file the draft law in the National Assembly after Mr Sarkozy said veils were ‘not welcome’ because they intimidated non-Muslims.
‘We want a ban in public areas,’ said Mr Cope, making it clear the veil would not be allowed in public buildings, or on the streets of France, home to five million Muslims.
He added: ‘The wearing of the burka will be subject to a fine, probably of 750 euros’.
The fine would apply to ‘all people on the public street whose face is entirely covered’.
Oh my. Nicolas Sarkozy better watch out or someone will call him a right-wing extremist.
In comments which will reignite the debate about religious clothing in the country, he said the full-body garment was "not a sign of religion, it is a sign of subservience".
Mr Sarkozy used the first presidential address to a joint session of France's two houses of parliament in 136 years to declare his support for a ban, even before hearing from a parliamentary commission set up to study the issue.
"We cannot accept to have in our country women who are prisoners behind netting, cut off from all social life, deprived of identity," Mr Sarkozy told the special session in Versailles.
"That is not the idea that the French republic has of women's dignity.
"The burka is not a sign of religion, it is a sign of subservience. It will not be welcome on the territory of the French republic," the French president said.
A group of 58 MPs from the Left and Right has called on Parliament to take action against women adopting what they called oppressive head-to-toe Islamic dress that "breaches individual freedoms".
Women's rights campaigners, including some Islamic groups, have backed the calls for measures to curb the small but growing trend of wearing burqas among France's five million Muslims.
Fadela Amara, a rights campaigner of Algerian background, who is the Housing Minister, said that was alarmed by the number of women "who are being put in this kind of tomb".
She added: "We must do everything to stop burqas from spreading."
Naturally, the Ice Cream Man has no problem with these moving prisons.
President Barack Obama attacked European laws on religious clothing in a speech in Cairo last week in which he said that the United States prized freedom of religion and would not "tell people what to wear".
Mr Sarkozy responded by telling Mr Obama in Normandy earlier this month that French principles of equality meant that people should not display religious affiliation in state institutions.
I never thought I'd see the day when I had more respect for the president of France than I do for the President of the United States.
Geez, even a Communist MP is on the right side of the issue. Yet Obama, who wants to dictate every aspect of our lives, has no problem apparently with women being kept subservient.
Those zany Dutchmen are really getting insensitive now, daring to free women from the oppression of having to dress up in a hefty bag in schools and government buildings.
Next thing you know, they'll insist the peaceful practitioners of Islam stop treating their women as chattel and they'll ban them outright, but that might offend the delicate sensibilities of the 7th century cavemen.
The Dutch government is set to impose a ban on the Muslim burqa in schools and government offices, media reported on Wednesday, in a retreat from the previous cabinet's plan for a general ban.
The cabinet has decided against a broad ban on burqas in public as that would violate the principle of freedom of religion, news agency ANP said, citing unnamed cabinet sources.
The Muslim community says only about 50 women wear the head-to-toe burqa or the niqab, a face veil that conceals everything but the eyes. They said a general ban would heighten alienation among the country's about 1 million Muslims.
An interior ministry spokesman said there was no final decision on the subject yet and the issue is expected to be discussed at the weekly cabinet meeting on Friday next week.
The wearing of headscarves in schools and at work is a sensitive topic across the European Union.
France, with Europe's largest Muslim minority, bans headscarves and other religious garb from state schools. Italy has a decades-old law against covering the face in public as an anti-terrorism measure.
Shortly before being voted out of office, the previous centre-right Dutch government proposed a complete ban on burqas and other Muslim face-veils in public, citing security concerns.
A new centrist coalition government of Christian Democrats, Labour and the Christian Union came into power in February 2007 and has taken a more conciliatory line on immigration.
Right-wing lawmaker Geert Wilders -- who has angered Muslims with his fierce criticism of Islam -- sent a bill to parliament last July proposing a ban on the burqa in public.
Curious, isn't it, how we never read anything about the delicate sensibilities of religious minorities in Muslim countries.
Double standard, anyone?
Speaking of Wilders, here are some trailers for his new movie that we noted last week.
Out of fashion
