The Paeria, Lleida’s city council, will not initially fine women who wear the full-face veil in the street, even though the new Ordinance on Safety and Civic Behaviour has banned it since the plenary approved it two weeks ago. This was confirmed by Carme Valls, fourth deputy mayor and councillor for Good Governance and Feminist Policies, according to La Mañana. Article 12 of the ordinance bans the use of any item that completely covers the face in the street, such as the burqa and the niqab.

An 18-month plan for women

The approval of the ordinance came with an Action Plan for Socio-educational Measures to Promote the Full Social Participation and Autonomy of Women of the Muslim Community, with which the Paeria aims to accompany and protect women who wear the full-face veil in Lleida, according to La Mañana. Valls argues that the plan is necessary to ensure that no woman is left isolated by the ordinance itself.

The plan lasts 18 months and is divided into three phases. The first, of rooting, covers the first six months and includes participatory mapping in the Casc Antic, contact with community reference figures and the creation of open spaces for women. The second, of deployment, runs from the sixth to the twelfth month and includes social groups and Catalan and Spanish courses, among other activities. The third, of consolidation, covers months 9 to 18 and aims to create paths to autonomy for women.

«De forma lliure»

«El que volem és que si hi ha una dona que du burca o nicab, ho faci de forma lliure», Valls told La Mañana, meaning that the aim is for any woman who wears a burqa or niqab to do so freely. Asked about cases in which a man prevents a woman from going out because of how she is dressed, the councillor replied that this would be kidnapping and that, if possible cases are detected, action will be taken swiftly.

A ban that was tried before

When the municipal government presented the proposal in April, mayor Fèlix Larrosa explained that the ban came with a plan to prevent women from being revictimised, according to Nació Digital. The ordinance provides for fines of between 400 and 3,000 euros for uncivil behaviour and replaces the one from 2007. The Paeria already tried to ban the burqa in 2010, under Àngel Ros, and the Supreme Court struck down the measure three years later, according to the same outlet.

Sources and verification

Information based on La Mañana, 11 October 2026, and Nació Digital, April 2026. Neither the text of the plan nor that of the approved ordinance could be consulted. The sources do not specify how long the period without fines will last.