The French government can not implement a nationwide anti-Muslim swimsuit ban, as such a law would be “unconstitutional and ineffective”, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said.
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Cazeneuve ruled out drafting a national law to ban burkinis.
A high court struck down the burkini bans Friday, but the high-pitched debate that quickly seeped into France’s political sphere revealed raw tensions between the secular establishment and sectors of France’s estimated 5 million Muslims, the largest Muslim population in Western Europe. Amidst growing criticism, the Council of State decreed that mayors in the French Riviera don’t have the right to ban burkinis or enforce fines or removal of the garment on the beach.
“As the prime minister has said, the government refuses to legislate on the matter because any such law would be unconstitutional, ineffective and likely to create antagonism and irreparable tension”, he said.
However, “tolerance” is needed on both sides, he added, saying that “Muslims must continue to engage with us on gender equality”.
But human rights groups said they are preparing to sue towns whose mayors insist on keeping the bans.
However, former President Nicolas Sarkozy, who marking a political return from the platform of Les Republicains party, has called for a law that would allow mayors to impose ban on burkini.
But Cazeneuve’s comments suggest such a law was unlikely under the current socialist government.
“France, more than ever, needs a peaceful relationship with Muslims”, Cazenevue said.
BuzzFeed’s Aisha Gani interviewed a woman wearing a burkini on the beach in Nice, and she said, “I booked a holiday to Nice to change our common holiday destination of Algeria”.
But Cazeneuve said, “we do not need a new law”.
The controversy around modest swimwear has filtered into new campaigns for the next presidential election and is the subject of highly charged debate.
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The ban caused outrage in the United Kingdom with a protest staged outside the French embassy in London on Thursday.
