Angela Merkel has called for a ban on the full Islamic veil in a hardening of her approach to integration by immigrants as she seeks to win over critics of her refugee policies before next year’s parliamentary elections.
“With us, the rule is: show your face, that’s why the full veil is not appropriate,” said the German chancellor to loud applause at her conservative Christian Democrat (CDU) party’s annual conference. The veil “should be banned” wherever this is legally possible, she said.
The chancellor, who is standing for a fourth term next year, is toughening her approach to integration in response to public concern about the arrival of more than 1m mainly Muslim immigrants in Germany over the past two years.