Portugal makes history by banning the use of the burka and the niqab in public spaces.
Portugal joins the list of European countries that have already banned the burka and the niqab, such as France, Belgium, Denmark, Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands.
On 17 October 2025, the Portuguese parliament approved a bill to ban the burka and the niqab in most public spaces. The proposal to ban the burka and the niqab was approved with the votes of the right and centre-right (Chega, PSD, IL and CDS-PP). In contrast, the left (PS, Livre, BE and PCP) voted against it, while PAN and JPP abstained.
According to the approved text, Anyone who completely covers their face in public spaces may be fined between €200 and €4,000., and anyone who forces someone to wear a veil may be penalised with up to three years' imprisonment.
«Let them go,» says the leader of Chega.
The Chega party, the driving force behind the law, defended the ban on the burka and the niqab as a measure to protect women's dignity and ensure public safety. Its leader, André Ventura, was categorical: «Let them go, return the aid and don't come back.»s", in reference to people who do not accept these rules of coexistence. According to him, the full-face veil perpetuates female subjugation and is incompatible with European values of freedom and equality.
The parties that supported it — PSD, Iniciativa Liberal and CDS-PP — agreed to stress that completely covering the face is not a religious right, but a cultural practice that limits integration. For these groups, the new legislation is necessary to defend women's fundamental rights and to ensure that Portuguese society is governed by the same values of transparency and equality.
Complaints from Muslims and left-wing parties
The main Muslim associations in Portugal have firmly rejected the new law. They denounce it as a discriminatory and stigmatising measure that affects a very small minority and will end up criminalising women who simply want to live out their faith. Lisbon's great magnet remarked that in Portugal there are at most a hundred women in burqas, “greatly exaggerating”.”, and that, therefore, the ban is more a result of a political debate than a real social need.
The left-wing parties — PS, Livre, Bloco de Esquerda and PCP — voted against because They consider that the law violates religious freedom and the right to individual expression.. They criticised its presentation as a gender equality measure, when in reality it serves to single out and marginalise a specific community. Socialist MP Pedro Delgado Alves emphasised that “No one feels comfortable with submission under a full-face veil, but that does not justify a blanket law that attacks a minority.”.
For the left, the ban is more of a symbolic gesture to satisfy the far right's agenda than a genuine response to a social problem. They warn that the debate over the burka and the niqab can fuel Islamophobia and put communal coexistence at risk, rather than strengthening it.
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