Ministers unanimously supported a draft bill that would forbid “concealing one’s face in certain public places” during a cabinet meeting on 26 July, according to a government statement.

The proposed legislation, which a Chamber of Deputies committee will now consider, would amend article 563 of the criminal code. Violators would be subject to fines between €25 and €250.

The new law has long been delayed while the Green justice minister, Félix Braz, worked out a compromise on the language of the bill. Among the adjustments was a change from banning the veil “in public” to “in certain places”, according to Paperjam.

In November 2015, Nicolas Schmit, the LSAP labour minister, said wearing a burqa was incompatible with Luxembourg society.

That same month, the Assembly of the Muslim Community of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg estimated that 16 women wore a burqa or niqab in the country.

Under a draft law, bill 6909, introduced in November 2015, faces could only be covered up in public for medical or professional reasons, as part of sporting and cultural events, and during authorised demonstrations.

Someone who forced another person to wear a veil would be subject to a year in prison and a fine of between €251 and €25,000 under that proposed bill. Both prison and financial penalties would double if the victim was a minor.

That document was authored by the MPs Gilles Roth and Laurent Mosar, both of the CSV, and has been still listed on the docket of parliament’s legal committee since December 2015.

Article 563 of the criminal code currently forbids public nuisances, such as fortune-telling, damaging fences and telephone poles, throwing objects at people on the street, harassing animals, and begging, among other acts.