Vox populi, vox Dei appears to be the operating strategy for Marine Le Pen and her National Rally party, which has committed to multiple popular referendums should she be elected as the next President of France, including on a potential law to “combat Islamist ideologies” within the country.
The frontrunning presidential candidate confirmed on Monday that, to enforce the ban on Islamic veils in public, she would seek to hold a referendum to impose fines on those who flout the 2010 law, which is currently rarely enforced.
Le Pen said this would come amid a broader ballot measure in which her government would seek public consent to enact a series of laws to “combat Islamist ideologies”.
“How could France defend its values with politicians who lack so much courage that they allow an ideology to claim the inferiority of women?” she questioned.
“Fighting against Islamist ideology and defending equality require courage and determination. Like the French people, I believe I have that courage and that determination,” the National Rally leader proclaimed.
In addition to the planned referendum on pushing back against Islamism, the populist party has also vowed to give the French public an opportunity to vote directly on national immigration policy.
Such a ballot measure would include whether the state should abolish birthright citizenship, limit welfare to French citizens, and order the “systematic expulsion of foreign offenders and criminals”.
Le Pen’s commitment to enforcing the ban on Islamic veils comes in contrast to her leading opponent in the upcoming presidential election, former Macronist Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, who said on 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.”
The National Rally leader responded, claiming that Philippe’s comments were a tacit admission that he “failed to properly enforce the law banning the full-face veil when he was Prime Minister.”
“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,” Le Pen added.
While some have attempted to downplay the importance of the issue or to cast it as a religious liberty matter, the veiling of young women in the West is seen as a critical vector of subversion by groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood.
A major French intelligence report last year said that the Islamist organisation actively places trained operatives within Islamic community institutions, including teachers, sports organisers, local shop managers, employment assistants, and even dating coaches, with the express aim of enforcing hardline Qur’anic practices such as the observance of fasting, the wearing of beards, and the veiling of women and girls.
The aim of “supervising the life of the Muslim” was part of a broader effort to undermine Western institutions and promote an Islamic “conquest strategy” in Europe, French intelligence found.
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