In a reflection of growing anxiety in Europe over the use of Islamic symbols, a committee of Belgian lawmakers voted Wednesday to ban the wearing of burqas in public, paving the way for the first clampdown of its kind on the Continent.

The proposal, which will be put to the full Parliament after the Easter break, highlights the political sensitivity of Islamic dress for European politicians grappling with the challenges of integrating its expanding Muslim population.

If wearing a burqa prevents a woman from getting a job she should also not expect to receive benefits.

So says Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen in an interview with Dutch-language newspaper Trouw.

He is not calling for a ban on the burqa.

The leader of an advocacy group for Muslim women and girls urged a French parliamentary panel on Wednesday to press for laws that would ban the wearing of Islamic body- and face-covering veils.

Sihem Habchi appeared as the first witness before a newly created parliamentary group studying Islamic clothing such as burqas and niqabs — part of France’s effort to integrate its growing Muslim population while preserving its heritage and secular roots.

The panel will hold months of hearings before issuing a report, likely by January. It has no power to draft laws but could recommend legislation restricting or banning women from wearing head-to-toe Islamic robes that mask facial features in public.

Face-covering Islamic robes known as burqas and niqabs are to be banned from Holland’s colleges and universities, education minister Ronald Plasterk said on Wednesday.

Health minister Ab Klink is also looking at extending the ban to cover hospitals and healthcare staff.

The ban only applies to compulsory education, and so does not include higher vocational education facilities and universities.

Minister Plasterk says that adults can decide for themselves whether they want to be confronted with a teacher wearing a burqa.

A Muslim member of the French government has backed a court’s decision to deny citizenship to a Moroccan woman who wears the burqa.

Urban Affairs Minister Fadela Amara said she hoped last month’s ruling would “dissuade certain fanatics from imposing the burqa on their wives”.

She told the newspaper, Le Parisien, the head-to-toe garment was a “prison”.

France has denied citizenship to a Moroccan woman who wears a burqa on the grounds that her “radical” practice of Islam is incompatible with basic French values such as equality of the sexes.

The case yesterday reopened the debate about Islam in France, and how the secular republic reconciles itself with the freedom of religion guaranteed by the French constitution.