Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has renewed its call for legislation banning girls under 14 from wearing Muslim headscarves in public educational institutions.
The AfD parliamentary group called for a similar measure, expected to enter into force in Austria next month, to be implemented in Germany as well. Austria’s regulation bans girls under 14 from wearing Islamic headscarves at school.
AfD defends ban in the name of “Western values”
AfD lawmaker Kerstin Przygodda described reports that some Muslim communities in Austria were planning not to comply with the regulation as “alarming.”
Przygodda argued that Germany also needed a similar ban and said the measure would protect “Western values.” The AfD parliamentary group criticized Germany’s established parties over their migration policies and called for the Austrian model to be introduced in public educational institutions.
CDU, SPD and Greens oppose proposal
A similar ban proposed by the AfD earlier this year had triggered heated debate in parliament. Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), its coalition partner the Social Democratic Party (SPD), and the opposition Greens strongly criticized the new proposal.
Critics argued that the AfD was using the headscarf issue to fuel negative sentiment toward Muslims and as a campaign tool ahead of state elections to be held in Saxony-Anhalt on September 6 and in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on September 20.
Critics also said that the AfD’s claims that girls in Muslim communities in Germany are widely forced to wear the headscarf are not supported by solid evidence. According to this view, most young girls who wear headscarves do so not under coercion but because of cultural practice, family tradition or personal choice.
