French PM seeks to mend cabinet rift over hijab in sport

PARIS: French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou on Tuesday sought to impose unity on his government as a top minister threatened to resign over whether women should be allowed to wear the Islamic headscarf in sports competitions. Currently, it is up to individual sports federations in France to decide whether women can wear the hijab in competition.

But legislation is going through parliament to ban it completely in professional and amateur competition, in a move backers say will shore up France’s strictly secular modern republic.

Cabinet unity in Bayrou’s minority government, which tilts to the right but also has some figures from a centre-left background, has crumbled in recent days with the sports minister and education minister expressing discomfort with the legislation. On Tuesday, Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin said he was prepared to resign if the government gave ground on the issue.