Germany’s lower house of Parliament succeeded this week in passing a partial burqa ban, which would apply to on-duty civil servants, judges and soldiers.
A late night of legislative haggling on Thursday in Germany’s Bundestag ended in a win for burqa-ban advocates. Legislators now must convince the nation’s upper house that partially banning religious face veils is in Germany’s best interest.
“Integration also means that we should make clear and impart our values and where the boundaries lie of our tolerance towards other cultures,” German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said, Deutsche Well reported Friday. “The draft law we have agreed on makes an important contribution to that.”
The move comes against a backdrop of increasing cultural tensions and terror attacks since an influx of migrants from the Middle East and North Africa.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who previously welcomed over 1 million migrants into the country, called for such measures in December “wherever legally possible.”
Similar laws have already been passed in Belgium, Bulgaria, France, and the Netherlands.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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