Marine Le Pen has confirmed she would put a proposed crackdown on “Islamist ideologies” to a national referendum if elected the next President of France, including a plan to impose fines on those who violate France’s 2010 ban on full-face Islamic veils in public.
The National Rally leader and frontrunner in the presidential race said Monday that the 2010 law is rarely enforced today, and that her government would seek direct public approval to strengthen it and enact related measures aimed at Islamist ideology more broadly.
“How could France defend its values with politicians who lack so much courage that they allow an ideology to claim the inferiority of women?” Le Pen said. “Fighting against Islamist ideology and defending equality require courage and determination. Like the French people, I believe I have that courage and that determination.”
Beyond the veiling law, National Rally has also committed to a separate referendum giving voters a direct say on immigration policy. That ballot measure would ask whether France should abolish birthright citizenship, restrict welfare benefits to French citizens only, and require the “systematic expulsion of foreign offenders and criminals.”
A Contrast With Philippe
Le Pen’s position puts her at odds with her chief rival in the race, former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, who said Monday: “The important thing at this stage is to respect the law as it exists today; I don’t think it’s necessary to go further.”
Le Pen fired back, arguing Philippe’s remarks amounted to an admission of his own record. “He failed to properly enforce the law banning the full-face veil when he was Prime Minister,” she said. “Worse, he also confirms that he will do nothing against an Islamist veil that he himself denounced in 2025 as an act of submission for women and even… for little girls.”
Intelligence Findings on the Muslim Brotherhood
The debate over veiling laws in France has increasingly been tied to broader concerns about organized Islamist influence. A French intelligence report released last year concluded that the Muslim Brotherhood places trained operatives inside Islamic community institutions — including teachers, sports organizers, shop managers, employment counselors, and even dating coaches — with the specific goal of enforcing hardline Qur’anic practices such as fasting, beard-wearing, and the veiling of women and girls.
That intelligence assessment described the effort to “supervise the life of the Muslim” as part of a wider strategy to undermine Western institutions and advance what it called an Islamic “conquest strategy” within Europe.
