The government of Spain’s Catalonia region said on Thursday it would push ahead with a planned burqa ban after a recent European Union ruling that banning full face veils in public did not violate the human rights of Muslim women.

The Catalan Government first announced its controversial plans to control the wearing of burqas and other face-covering attire in public spaces “for reasons of public safety” in 2013. The move had nothing to do with religion and would also see the public wearing of garments including helmets and masks banned, Ramon Espadaler, Interior Minister for Catalonia, announced at the time.

On Thursday, Espadaler said the Catalan government would the begin of process of getting the bill approved in the regional parliament after the summer 2014 recess, Spain’s Cuatro TV channel reported.

The recent EU ruling that France’s ban on full-face veils like the burqa and the niqab in public was legal had opened up a “new perspective” on the proposed law in Catalonia, said the minister responding to a question in the Catalan parliament. This meant the region could now leglisate against such face covering from a human rights perspective as well from a safety angle, Espadaler said.

The minister also pointed out the Catalan government wanted to legislate on the issue because previous attempts to do so by individual Catalan towns had been thwarted by Spain’s courts.

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Catalan cops are keeping a close eye on Muslim women wearing full-body veils to determine whether they are linked to any radical Islamist groups in the region.

Catalonia’s Mossos d’Esquadra police are taking a census of every Muslim woman wearing a niqab or burqa. Whenever they see a woman wearing a full-body veil which also covers their faces, by taking down their details and passing it on to the local authorities. “Catalan police have always been convinced that niqab-bearing women can be indicative of a radical or Salafist branch of Islam,” Spain’s Interior ministry explained.

On July 18th, the Catalan Parliament approved a motion which bans people from covering their faces if deemed a security risk. Several political parties in the region are now pushing for the law to apply to Muslim head gear, which would prohibit its usage in public spaces across Catalonia.

The Local, 27 August 2013

The Catalan Government has announced plans to control the wearing of burqas and other face-covering attire in public spaces “for reasons of public safety”.

The proposed rule will also control the public wearing of other garments including helmets and masks, Ramon Espadaler, Interior Minister for Catalonia, announced in the autonomous region’s parliament on Wednesday. A full debate will follow the introduction of the public safety motion designed to combat people concealing their faces in public places.

Espadaler argued that it had nothing to do with “religious issues”, according to Catalan daily La Vanguardia. “It is not a general prohibition. That would lead us nowhere and we would be infringing on fundamental rights,” he said. He added: “We want to be sensitive” and urged a “careful, subtle and clear debate” to find a “consensus”.

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Maxim Ferschtman and Cristina de la Serna provide a detailed analysis of the Spanish Supreme Court’s recent judgement overturning the “burqa ban” in the Catalonian city of Lleida. They argue that the ruling “could provide a precedent to prevent broader bans at both the local and the national level”.

Open Society Foundations, 22 March 2013

A Spanish court has overturned a city’s ban on wearing face-covering Islamic veils in municipal buildings, saying it infringes religious liberties.

In 2010, Lleida, in the northeastern region of Catalonia, became the first town in Spain to impose such a ban. It was temporarily suspended by a regional court following an appeal by a Muslim association but then later upheld.

Spain’s Supreme Court on Thursday accepted a second appeal and said the city was not entitled to order such a ban. It said that in line with Spanish and European rulings, such a prohibition must be based on a law, which does not exist in Spain at present.

The Lleida ban was largely symbolic since only about 3 percent of its population is Muslim and very few wear such garments.

Associated Press, 28 February 2013