Le quotidien qui Mark

The Belgian burqa ban, which comes with France preparing a similar move and after the outlawing of minarets in Switzerland, will be seen by the Arab world as a further sign of Islamophobia sweeping Europe.

There is undoubtedly an element of truth in such criticism.

In France, President Sarkozy has been wavering over the proposed burqa ban for months but appears to have come down in favour of it in an attempt to win back voters from the ultra-right National Front. Details of the proposed law revealed today in Le Figaro, suggest that the authorities are considering a fine of up to €150 (£130) for anyone concealing their face behind a burqa or other Muslim veil. It would also impose a maximum fine of €15,000 on anyone forcing a third party to wear a burqa.

His decision to authorise legislation prohibiting the full Muslim veil in public comes after the disastrous performance of his centre-right allies in last month's regional elections, particularly in the working-class areas that backed him in the 2007 presidential election.

The hard-line approach to Islam was highlighted last weekend as ministers threaten ed to deprive a Muslim butcher of his French nationality for alleged polygamy. It is designed, in part at least, to pander to the populist sentiment summed up the slogan: ''La France, tu l'aimes ou tu la quittes (France, you love it or you leave it).''

Similarly, the ban on Minarets in Switzerland, approved in a referendum last year, was driven by populist, right-wing politicians — as is a move to outlaw the burqa in the Netherlands.

But it would be an error to stigmatise all supporters of the burqa ban as racist, for the issue strikes at the heart of national identity in France, Belgium and elsewhere in Europe.

The French Republic, for instance, was built in opposition to the Catholic Church as much as in rebellion against the monarchy.

The battle between priests and secular primary school teachers — waged in villages across the country throughout the 19th century — was decisive in shaping the nation's political psyche.

It turned France into a country where religion was accepted, but distrusted by the republican institutions.

Politicians, commentators, but also swaths of French public opinion, see radical Islam as a challenge to the secular state and to the values that it is supposed to promulgate — liberty, equality, fraternity.

Why fight off the invasive hand of one religion, Christianity, only to see its citizens fall into the grip of another, Islam?, the argument goes.

Supporters of the ban say the burqa is an affront to the freedom of women, an insult to the notion of sexual equality and an obstruction to fraternal communication.

It also presents immense practical difficulties in a country where you have to prove your identity to withdraw money in a bank, to pick your child up from school or to show your monthly buss pass.