European Hijab Campaign Sparks Controversy as France Pushes for Removal

Launched a week ago by the Program for Inclusion and the Fight against Discrimination, managed by the Council and co-financed by the European Union, this campaign offered portraits of several young women, veiled on only one half of the image.

With its English message "Beauty is in diversity as freedom is in hijab", this campaign sparked a lively controversy, from the far right to the government. Several reactions were recorded both from members of the French government and from European political actors.

According to the spokesman for the French government, this initiative, described as an "identity approach", is "the opposite of the freedom of convictions that France defends in all European and international forums". These remarks were maintained by the Minister of Education Jean-Michel Blanquer, indicating that "it is very serious and the incident is not closed" because it reveals "that associations, structures that do not go in the direction of the values of the Republic manage to insinuate themselves into institutions, even the most important ones like the Council of Europe".

For Marine Le Pen, "this European communication in favor of Islamist veiling is scandalous and indecent when millions of women are courageously fighting against this enslavement".

Within the government, the Secretary of State for Youth Sarah El Haïry indicated that France had "expressed its extremely strong disapproval, hence the withdrawal of this campaign as of (Tuesday)".

Taking into account the observations made by European political actors, particularly French ones, and after withdrawing the campaign, the European Council invited the latter to take into account "the other actions" of this program against hate speech. "Our position is extremely clear: women must be able to wear what they want, according to the laws of the country where they live," insisted a second spokesman for the institution.