October 25, 2009 French Minister of Immigration commented on French “national identity,” noting it should not include long enveloping Muslim garments, msnbc website reports referring to Associated Press.

“For me, no burqas on the street. The burqa runs counter to national values,” Minister Eric Besson said on LCI television noting burqa is disrespect and inequality towards women’s rights, the source informs. However, Besson did not directly offer veil banning but left it up to French authorities to decide on the matter. Muslim veils encage women and are not hailed in France, French President Nicolas Sarkozy stated earlier.

“Parliamentary commission is holding six months of hearings that could lay the groundwork for a law banning Muslim women from wearing head-to-toe and face-covering veils in public,” the source reads.