.... Only Team Stronach, a liberal and euro-skeptic party funded by a Canadian-Austrian auto-parts billionaire, supported the proposed bill.
Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) member Maria Fekter opposed the ban on the basis that women who wore the burqa tended to be wealthy visitors from Saudi Arabia, who might be discouraged from spending money while visiting the country.
FPÖ parliamentarian Carmen Gartelgruber described the wearing of veils as "a symbol of the oppression of women." However Nurten Yilmaz (Social Democrats/SPÖ) questioned the feminist credentials of a party which opposed updating the national anthem to remove sexist language. [The Local] Read more
