Latvia’s president says he would support a ban on face-covering Islamic veils as the Baltic country readies to receive 250 refugees from Africa and the Middle East.
Raimonds Vejonis told the AP in an interview Tuesday that it’s up to Latvian lawmakers to decide whether to outlaw the burqa, as some have proposed, but that he personally favors a ban.
Vejonis, a former defense minister who took office in July, said there’s a “security component” to the issue and even linked it to fears of terrorism.
“We haven’t any terrorism in our region,” he said. “I don’t want to somehow escalate the situation and raise the possible threat level in our region. It is my personal opinion on why I support the ban on the burqa.”
Latvia’s Culture Minister Dace Melbarde told Latvian television her country didn’t have the right to ban the burqa if women wore it out of free will.
The debate comes as Latvia prepares to receive 250 people under EU plans to resettle tens of thousands of refugees entering Europe by crossing the Mediterranean.
Like in neighboring Estonia and Lithuania, the issue has sparked debate over whether accepting even a relatively small number of people from foreign cultures can harm Latvia’s security and national identity.
The three small Baltic countries have seen very little immigration since they regained independence from the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.