PSOE and Sumar have expressed this Tuesday their rejection of the consideration of an Organic Law Proposal registered by Junts that proposes to ban the use of the niqab and burqa, considering it "intolerant". PP and Vox have also voted against, but alleging that "it introduces through the back door another transfer of powers" in matters of security and identification of people to the Generalitat of Catalonia.
In the session held in Congress, the Junts deputy Josep Pagès i Massó has defended the initiative and has wanted to dissociate it from "racism" and from "Vox". "Neither burka nor Vox", he affirmed, warning that they will not allow that in Spanish society "the rights of women are violated".
The PP deputy Cristina Teniente has supported "the substance" of the proposal because "the burqa and full-face veils are the negation of women's identity", but has criticized that "they introduce through the back door a new transfer of powers to Catalonia". "Therefore, we say yes to the prohibition, but no to a new transfer," she stressed.
In the name of the PSOE, deputy Andrea Fernández has pointed out that "any garment aimed at hiding or denigrating women is contrary to feminism" and "a display of oppression always", but has reproached Junts that "security is the alibi used to cover intolerance". "The solution in no case involves expelling these women from public space based on prohibitions", she has defended, urging to look at the domestic sphere because "any woman who is forced to wear a burka or a niqab has a problem of gender violence in her home".
From Vox, MP Blanca Armario has accused Junts of "incoherence" and "lack of memory" considering that "Catalan separatism is responsible for the Islamization of Catalonia" and recalling that they voted against a similar proposal from her group. She has also reproached them for "using the veil as a pretext" with the "true desire for a new concession". "Neither burqa nor Junts," she concluded.
For Sumar, deputy Gerardo Pisarello has declared himself "in favor of maximum self-government" and "of women's right to cover themselves or uncover themselves", but has warned that it is "racism disguised as feminism" because it leads to "stigmatizing and criminalizing migrant, poor women, for their origin and for their skin color".
The ERC deputy Pilar Vallugera has accused Junts of acting with "bad faith" by proposing a "trap" that combines the prohibition of the full veil with the delegation of powers. "Do you know how this begins? Saying that the burqa and the niqab must be prohibited because it is a sexist attack. And do you know how this ends? Shouting: 'Muslim whoever doesn't jump'", she warned.
From EH Bildu, deputy Isabel Pozueta has reproached Junts for using women as a "scapegoat" and has called it "ironic" that it proposes to ban certain religious garments that cover the face, "when just a week ago hundreds and hundreds of people, mostly men, paraded through the streets of the entire Spanish State with their faces completely covered by religious decision", in allusion to the Holy Week processions.
The PNV deputy Mikel Legarda has shown himself to be in favor of the delegation of powers, although he has specified that the issue of the prohibition of the full-face veil must be addressed in accordance with international treaties and the doctrine of the European Court of Human Rights, which "did not accept that the prohibition was necessary in a democratic society for the sake of public security" nor "that the full-face veil affected gender equality".
Finally, the Podemos deputy Noemí Santana has criticized that Junts' proposal "does not respond to any type of urgency, social demand or existing problem in the streets" but to "the temptation to open identity debates that generate noise, polarize and end up singling out vulnerable groups", defending that the use of the burka is "absolutely residual" in Spain. "Feminism does not consist of an imposition to replace another imposition," she concluded.