“Populism” and “demagoguery”: Bruno Retailleau attacks RN plan to ban the veil in public spaces

Bruno Retailleau has accused France’s National Rally of selling slogans it knows cannot be implemented, after the party reaffirmed plans to ban the Islamic veil in public spaces.

The National Rally says it would propose a referendum on fighting Islamism if it wins the 2027 election. Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella have said the referendum would include a ban on the veil, a measure that has long appeared in Le Pen’s presidential platform.

Retailleau, the leader of the centre-right Republicans, told RTL that the proposal conflicted with France’s current legal framework on secularism. “I want to tell the French people the truth. Marine Le Pen and the National Rally are brandishing slogans they know very well are inapplicable,” he said.

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I want to tell the French people the truth. Marine Le Pen and the National Rally are brandishing slogans they know very well are inapplicable.

He also questioned the consistency of the party’s messaging, saying there had been conflicting statements from Jean-Philippe Tanguy, Bardella and Le Pen. A referendum could avoid review of an adopted text by the Constitutional Council, but the council could still reject the call if the subject does not fall within the Constitution’s defined scope.

Retailleau said he backed more limited measures, including banning the veil in federated sports competitions and extending the school veil ban to adult supervisors accompanying pupils outside school buildings. He also reiterated support for creating an offence covering Islamist “infiltration,” saying he wanted to address what he described as the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood.

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If you ban it, legally there is a problem. If you ban the veil, then you have to ban the kippah and, if I may say so, ban nuns from covering their hair.