Portugal’s Face-Veil Ban Marks a Breakthrough for Chega

Portugal has just joined the group of European countries that have chosen to restrict the wearing of full-face veils in public spaces. On 17 July 2026, the Portuguese Parliament gave final approval to a law prohibiting the concealment of the face in public spaces. President António José Seguro of the Socialist Party signed it into law on 18 August. This marks a symbolic victory for Chega, the right-wing populist party led by André Ventura, which sponsored the bill.

The law does not ban the Islamic veil as a whole. The hijab, which covers the hair but leaves the face uncovered, is not affected. The law targets clothing intended to “conceal or prevent the identification” of the face. In practice, this primarily refers to the niqab, which generally leaves the eyes visible, and the burqa, which completely conceals the face. The final wording, however, is deliberately general and makes no reference to Islam or to any specific religious garment.

A Break with Portuguese Law

Until the adoption of this law, Portugal did not have a general national ban on the full-face veil in public spaces. Wearing a niqab or a burqa was therefore not, in and of itself, punishable by law throughout the country.

The new law now prohibits the concealment of the face in public spaces: particularly on streets and in places accessible to the public, as well as in certain public buildings and services. It also provides for restrictions during demonstrations and in certain contexts where the identification of individuals is deemed necessary.

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Exceptions are provided for situations in which concealing one’s face is justified by medical, professional, artistic, advertising or weather-related reasons. The law also specifically excludes places of worship, diplomatic and consular missions and airplanes.

Penalties distinguish between cases where the offense is committed negligently and those where it is intentional: in the latter case, the fine may be as high as €3,000 ($3,508). Forcing a person to cover their face for reasons related to gender, religion, age or origin is also prohibited. Where such coercion is based on the victim’s sex and involves threats, violence, abuse of authority or abuse of power, it may be punished by up to two years in prison or a fine of up to 240 days. The penalty is increased by one-third if the victim is a minor.

Chega: From a Minority Initiative to National Law

Chega has played a central role in this development. It was André Ventura’s party that introduced the initial bill, even though the issue of the full-face veil had not previously been a major priority in Portuguese legislation. The proposal, presented as a measure to protect women’s freedom, equality and dignity, explicitly targeted clothing that covers the face for religious or gender-related reasons. Chega drew in particular on the example of several European countries that had already enacted legislation on the matter.

An initial version of the bill was approved by Parliament in October 2025. At that stage, the link to Islam was much more apparent: the bill was commonly referred to as a “burqa law” and explicitly targeted garments such as the burqa and the niqab. It provided for much higher fines at that time: up to €4,000 ($4,677).

However, Chega could not have secured passage of its proposal alone. The party had to seek support from center-right parties, particularly the Partido Social Democrata (PSD), the main force in the governing coalition, as well as the Iniciativa Liberal and the Christian Democratic party Centro Democrático e Social – Partido Popular (CDS-PP). Negotiations gradually transformed the text. The direct reference to Islamic clothing was removed in favor of a general formulation concerning the concealment of the face in public spaces. The penalties were also reduced.

This development illustrates Chega’s political strategy: to bring issues previously championed mainly by the radical right into the parliamentary debate and then to secure support for these issues from more moderate parties. While the party did not succeed in having its initial proposal adopted verbatim, it did manage to make its initiative the starting point for national legislation.

When Parliament approved the bill on 17 July, Chega’s lawmakers stood up and applauded. Left-wing parties – notably the Socialist Party and the Communist Party – voted against it, while the People-Animals-Nature party abstained.

For its opponents, the general nature of the law does not alter its practical effect. Since the niqab and the burqa are the main garments affected, the measure will necessarily impact – even without naming them – certain Muslim women.

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Amnesty International has thus denounced a ban that could infringe upon several fundamental rights, including freedom of religion and expression. The organization also believes that the measure risks disproportionately affecting Muslim women who choose to cover their faces.

Supporters of the bill counter that the law does not target any religion and is based on a general principle: in certain public spaces, the face must be identifiable. Chega also views it as a matter of dignity and gender equality.

A European Trend

Portugal is not an isolated case. France was the first European country to introduce, in 2010, a general ban on face coverings in public spaces, which took effect in 2011. Belgium adopted a similar measure in 2011. Austria, Bulgaria and Denmark have also implemented national bans on full-face veils.

Switzerland, in turn, adopted a national ban on face coverings, which took effect in 2025. In the Netherlands, the ban is more limited and applies specifically to public transportation as well as certain public establishments and buildings. Other countries have opted for sector-specific restrictions: in Germany, these apply in particular to certain public-sector positions and professional settings, while Norway bans the full-face veil in educational institutions.

Despite these provisions, the European landscape remains fragmented, and several countries still have no national ban in place.

With Portugal joining them, however, the list of countries that consider facial identification a legitimate requirement in public spaces is growing. And the legislative journey of this law is as politically revealing as its content: an initiative spearheaded by Chega and initially linked to the issue of the burqa was ultimately transformed, with the support of the traditional parliamentary right, into a general rule on face concealment.

For André Ventura’s party, this is a victory that goes far beyond the issue of the veil alone. It demonstrates its growing ability to shift the boundaries of the Portuguese political debate and to have some of its proposals adopted by the ruling parties.