Word: european
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...familiar in the economic downturn as cash-strapped governments across the continent have made massive cuts in public services and begun to charge for things that were once free. "There is definitely a cause for concern at this point," says Thomas Estermann, head of funding for the European University Association. "On the one hand, we see how important it is to invest in higher education and research to overcome the crisis, but governments that had to bail out their financial sectors have to make cuts somewhere. It's difficult to balance that...
...Other European countries are enacting similarly strict laws when it comes to burqas and headscarves. French President Nicolas Sarkozy is pushing for a ban on the burqa to follow a 2004 French law prohibiting students and staff from wearing headscarves and any other "conspicuous" religious symbols in state schools. Headscarves have also been outlawed in schools in the Netherlands, Britain and in many German states, and the Italian government has just started a debate on whether to ban them. The European pushback against Islam has gone even further in Switzerland, where the public last year approved a referendum making...
...Belgium, however, the burqa bill has the cautious support of much of the Muslim community. "Nobody likes somebody covered," says Saïd El Khadraoui, a Belgian Socialist member of the European Parliament. "It is wrong to say the burqa is part of Islam - the vast majority of Muslims do not wear it. And it's not a bad idea to give a signal that we need some rules to live together." His sentiments are echoed by Emir Kir, who was born in Belgium to Turkish Muslim parents and is now the Secretary for Public Sanitation and Monument Conservation...
...also wonders whether the bill would be compatible with the Belgian constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights. Indeed, legal concerns led France's Council of State to warn this week that a similar proposal working its way through France's legislative system could be unconstitutional. French politicians are still mulling their options. The leader of Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement party has said that while he respects the council's conclusions, the parliament is not bound by them. (Read an argument against the veil by Azadeh Moaveni...
...Belgium and its relationship with its Muslim community, according to Carl Devos, a political scientist at Ghent University. "The Muslim community is not yet well-integrated in Belgium. The difference between them and us is still there," he says. "This law draws a line, saying we in western European democracies accept Muslim beliefs, but in order to live together - and even communicate - we have to be seen...