On December 17, 2003, French President Jaques Chirac went on television to explain the immediate necessity of passing a law recently proposed by the Stasi commission. This commission had been empowered to explore the failures of the last thirty years of French immigration policy in terms of integration. It had also been specifically instructed to investigate threats to the concept of laicite, the rigorous French version of secularism and the separation of the Church and the State. Chirac explained that, following the commission’s advice as well as that of numerous experts, he had centered on a policy to deal with these issues:
We shall do so by bringing to life the principle of secularism, which is a pillar of our constitution. It expresses our wish to live together in respect, dialogue and tolerance. Secularism guarantees freedom of conscience. It protects the freedom to believe or not to believe.
He then expanded upon what this freedom requires:
It is the neutrality of the public sphere which enables the harmonious existence side by side of different religions. Like all freedoms, the freedom to express one’s faith can only have limits in the freedom of others, and in the compliance with rules of life in society. Religious freedom, which our country respects and protects, must not be abused, it must not call general rules into question, and it must not infringe the freedom of belief of others.
Finally, Chirac, building to a rhetorical climax, came to the essence of the new law which had provoked so much commentary around the world:
In all conscience, it is my view that the wearing of clothes or of symbols which conspicuously demonstrate religious affiliations must be banned in state schools.