PARIS (RNS) Six years after banning Muslim girls from wearing headscarves in public schools, French lawmakers appear close to a measure to ban women from wearing face-covering veils in some public spaces.

On Tuesday (Jan. 26), a parliamentary commission delivered a long-awaited report recommending that women be barred from wearing the full veil in public institutions and on public transportation.

The bipartisan panel also recommended that foreigners who wear the full veil be denied French citizenship and residency. But in an indication of the issue’s sensitivity, the panel did not call for banning the garment from private buildings or public spaces such as streets.

“Scandalous practices are being hidden behind the full veil that go against our history,” said French Communist deputy Andre Gerin, the commission’s head, in broadcasted remarks. “… To say no to the full veil, we have decided to wage a political battle.”

Of France’s 6 million Muslims, only a small percentage of women — the government estimates less than 2,000 — wear the full veil, known as the niqab in most Arab countries.

Even so, the garment has sparked one of France’s hottest debates in years after President Nicolas Sarkozy announced last June that the full veil was not welcome in France. Recent polls also indicate the majority of French back a ban.

Supporters argue the garment symbolizes female oppression and presents a security risk, since it hides the wearer’s face. But they argue the ban is not aimed against Islam, and note that even Muslim leaders say face veils are not a religious obligation.

Earlier this month a leading member of Sarkozy’s ruling UMP party, Jean-Francois Cope, introduced draft legislation to outlaw the veil. But others, like Sarkozy, are pushing for a nonbinding resolution instead.

The push for a crackdown is hardly unanimous. Many French Muslims, even conservative ones, are against face veils, but are dismayed by a debate they say unfairly targets their community — and underscores a European intolerance of Islam in Europe.

“I’m all for debates but not one that stigmatizes a community,” said Noura Jaballah, head of the European Forum of Muslim Women, a conservative networking group. Jaballah wears a headscarf, but frowns on face-covering veils.

In 2004, the French government passed a ban against headscarves and other religious objects in public schools. But experts say the legislation has had mixed results.

“We don’t have scarves anymore in state schools, but the girls are putting on their scarves again when they go outside of school,” said Claire de Galembert, an analyst on Islam at the Paris-based National Center for Scientific Research.