Excerpt:
Politicians have joined a growing debate after a right-wing MEP posted a photo of a veiled woman on a French beach on social networks, accompanied by a commentary about sex equality.
Nadine Morano, who is a fervent supporter of former president Nicolas Sarkozy, published the photo on her Twitter and Facebook accounts on Monday.
It shows a woman wearing a Muslim headscarf, viewed from the back, sitting on the sand. Juxtaposed is a photo of French film star Brigitte Bardot in the 1960s, lying on a beach in a bikini.