Portugal becomes next European country to ban burqas in public

Portugal has enacted legislation banning face coverings in public spaces, a measure widely seen as targeting Muslim women who wear full-face veils. It places the country among a growing number of European states with restrictions on such garments.

The legislation, dubbed the "burqa law" by Portuguese media, was approved by parliament in July with the support of the governing centre-right coalition and far-right parties, while left-wing parties voted against it, as Euronews reported.

"The face must be considered a central element of human identity and communication," Portuguese President António José Seguro said in a statement earlier this week.

The law prohibits clothing designed to conceal a person’s face or prevent identification in public spaces. It also makes it illegal to force someone to cover their face for reasons related to gender, religion, age or origin.

The bill was proposed by the far-right Chega party, which holds the second-largest number of seats in parliament. However, it received negative opinions from the Portuguese Bar Association, the High Council of the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Portuguese Association of Women Lawyers, which also raised concerns about its potential constitutionality.

The ban was nevertheless backed by the centre-right Social Democratic Party (PSD), which traditionally plays a dominant role in Portuguese politics and is currently part of the governing Democratic Alliance coalition. The PSD holds 91 seats in parliament, the largest number of seats held by any party.

The centre-left Socialist Party (PS), green-left Livre and Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) all opposed the proposal, warning that it could contribute to Islamophobia.

The PS denounced what it described as the "Islamophobic purpose that was evident in the explanatory memorandum [of the bill], the context of radicalism in which we live and the risks this creates for the communities directly targeted."

The PCP said the proposal had "nothing to do with women's rights, nor with security issues", but was "solely about fuelling hate speech and violence against those who are different, fuelling racist and xenophobic discourse."

Livre accused the right of "hypocrisy" and conducting the debate in a "biased manner", arguing that it sought to create in Portugal "a moral panic over a supposed Islamic invasion that the far right so often talks about."

Europe’s existing face-covering bans

The decision to introduce the ban generated a heated debate in Portugal, but several European countries already have laws restricting or prohibiting face coverings in public.

France became the first European country to introduce a nationwide ban on full-face coverings in public spaces in 2011. Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark and Luxembourg subsequently adopted similar measures.

Other countries have introduced partial restrictions, limiting face coverings in specific settings such as schools or public institutions. These include Austria, Germany and the Netherlands.

By Nazrin Sadigova