Government backs Andorra Endavant bill on concealing faces in public spaces

Interior Minister Ester Molné has expressed the Government’s support for Andorra Endavant’s bill to regulate a ban on concealing the face in certain spaces.

Molné said Andorran law should provide a clear framework on face identification, but warned that the bill has substantial shortcomings that will need to be addressed during its parliamentary passage.

The minister was particularly critical of the bill’s drafting, describing it as too long and repetitive. In her view, its length does not make the rules more precise, and duplicated provisions could create problems of interpretation. The Government is therefore calling for the text to be simplified before it can proceed.

Molné also said the bill’s rationale would need to take into account the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. She said the court had found that effective equality between women and men was not, on its own, sufficient grounds for a general ban of this kind.

By contrast, she said, the court had accepted the preservation of minimum conditions for coexistence in public spaces — the concept known as vivre ensemble — as a justification. Molné stressed that the Government’s support did not remove the need for thorough legislative work on the bill.

PS warns the ban could harm affected people

Social Democratic Party (PS) member of the General Council Susanna Vela criticised the Government’s support for the bill. She warned that the ban could end up harming the people it affects rather than promoting the autonomy and equality it is intended to advance.