President Sarkozy promises to anathema the deceive in France

Charles Bremner, Paris & , : {}

France is to ban the full Muslim veil to protect the dignity of women, President Sarkozy announced yesterday.

His decision followed months of wavering by politicians of Left and Right and ended a long silence by Mr Sarkozy on what do do about the niqab, burqa and other full face-covering garments.

"The full veil is contrary to the dignity of women," the President said. "The response is to ban it. The Government will table a draft law prohibiting it."

He gave no details but his announcement means that he has come down on the side of members of Parliament in his own camp and the opposition who advocate a full ban on the full veil on French territory.

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An all-party parliamentary committee recommended lesser measures last month that would require women to expose their faces on public transport and on state-owned premises such as post offices, universities and hospitals.

Until recently Mr Sarkozy had merely said that the full veil symbolised the oppression of women and that it "has no place in France".

Mr Sarkozy was speaking in an address to the nation to take stock of the results of regional elections in which his Union for a Popular Movement was beaten heavily. The triumph of the Socialist-led opposition was seen as a direct rebuke to the President over the style and substance of his leadership.

Speaking from the Elyse Palace, Mr Sarkozy said that he had heard the message of distress that voters had sent him. He accepted that the French were frustrated and worried about the failure to revive the economy faster but he insisted that he would continue to pursue his ambitious programme of reforms.

"I understand your impatience. I owe you a response. But nothing would be worse than to change tack on everything by giving in to the agitation of an electoral period," he said.

Mr Sarkozy promised not to ride roughshod over public opinion when raising the retirement age this year. He also promised to defend French industry and told farmers that he would prefer to trigger a crisis in the European Union than accept cuts in the Common Agriculture Policy.

The Opposition accused Mr Sarkozy of turning a deaf ear to discontent by ploughing on with unpopular reforms. They also charged him with pandering to right-wing voters who had deserted him for the National Front of Jean-Marie Le Pen.

"This was a speech aimed at re-establishing himself with the electorate on the Right rather than re-establishing the international competitiveness of France," Jean-Christophe Cambadelis, a senior Socialist MP, said.

The President acknowledged that his administration had failed to curb violent crime and promised a renewed effort on that issue.

His announcement on the Muslim veil will be well received since a strong majority of the French favour a ban, according to opinion polls.

Some leading politicians in Mr Sarkozy"s camp and in the opposition are opposed, on the grounds that such a measure would stigmatise France"s six million Muslims. France is also likely to cause anger in the Muslim world with a ban that would go far beyond the existing prohibition of headscarves in state schools.

Mr Sarkozy gave no indication as to how an outright ban would be imposed and policed.

Opinion polls this week have shown that a strong majority do not want Mr Sarkozy to be re-elected in 2012.

A poll for Paris Match showed that 60 per cent of the country wanted the Opposition to win power in the next presidential and legislative elections.