international

Sarkozy says Burkha is not welcome in France

France may have Western Europe's largest Muslim population - five million - but it was also the country that, five years ago, banned the Muslim headscarf and other religious symbols from public schools.  President Nicolas Sarkozy has now joined calls for the burkha to be banned:

"We cannot accept to have in our country women who are prisoners behind netting, cut off from all social life, deprived of identity. That is not the idea that the French republic has of women's dignity.
"The burka is not a sign of religion, it is a sign of subservience. It will not be welcome on the territory of the French republic."

President Sarkozy's stance contrasts with that of President Obama, set out in Cairo last month:

"The US government has gone to court to protect the right of women and girls to wear the hijab, and to punish those who would deny it."

The Times' Charles Bremner reports mixed views from France's Muslim leaders:

"Imam of the Paris Mosque Dalil Boubakeur supported an inquiry, saying that face covering for women was a fundamentalist practice originating in Afghanistan that was not prescribed by Islam. The national Muslim Council, which is less tied to the establishment, accused lawmakers of wasting time on a fringe phenomenon. "To raise the subject like this ... is a way of stigmatising Islam," council leader Mohammed Moussaoui said."

Does immigration explain the European Right's electoral success?

The Economist's Charlemagne doesn't quite believe the argument but posts a possible explanation for why Europe's Right is benefiting from this decade's recession when Europe's Left benefited from the downturn of the 1990s:

"Normally, recessions benefit the left. The Golden Age for the centre left in the European Parliament was the 1990s when Europe had double digit unemployment and a nasty recession. Yet in the current recession, voters are turning to right-wing and xenophobic parties across the Old Continent, away from the parties that historically contributed much more to the construction of the European welfare state. Yet ideologically, parties of the left are unwilling to limit immigration or access to welfare for immigrants. So with unemployment and deficits rising, native born citizens have the "legitimate worry" that those defending redistribution will still end up forced to cut welfare payments, because they will not limit immigration."

A YouGov survey for MigrationWatch showed that immigration was the fourth most important issue for UK voters in last week's elections:

• 51% said Britain's relationship with the EU
• 51% said economy, jobs and standard of living
• 40% said conduct of MPs
• 35% said immigration
• 14% said the environment
• 12% said the NHS
• 12% said crime
• 7% said education.

Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party may top poll in Dutch European Elections

Some key numbers from the latest ComRes survey of European opinion:

• "Controversial nationalist politician Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party (NI), formed only in February 2006, holds a narrow lead over Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende’s Christian Democrat Appeal (EPP-ED). Wilders’ party, whose support has swelled since the publication of the firebrand’s anti-Islam film Fitna, may well rock the Dutch political establishment to the core by topping the poll in the June European elections."
• Berlusconi may be experiencing martital breakup but his new Coalition is looking very strong - at 48% in current polls; 14% ahead of the left opposition.  56% of all voters have confidence in Prime Minister Berlusconi.
• 48% of French voters are satisfied with President Nicolas Sarkozy, 50% are dissatisfied
• Angela Merkel remains on course to escape having to cohabit with the SPD after this year's German General Election.  The CDU/CSU and their natural allies, the FD, are at 52% in current polls.
• Is 52% the biggest lead enjoyed by any European political party? Hungary's Civic Union is 52% ahead of its main socialist party rival.
• Prime Minister Brian Cowen's Fianna Fáil trails the opposition Fine Gael by 10% in Irish opinion polls.
• Spain's Popular Party holds a narrow 2% lead over the Socialist government.

Despite talk of a crisis for the Right, left wing parties trail their centre right opponents in Europe's five largest nations.

Click here for a PDF of the full ComRes briefing.

Click here for last month's briefing.

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