29/09/2004 (Agence Europe) - The UMP MEP Patrick Gaubert has said in a press release that he is (our translation) "appalled by the initiative of the British 'pro-hijab' grouping to organise an anti-French campaign in the European Parliament against the law on the wearing of religious signs in schools" (see EUROPE of 25 September, p.17), on the initiative by British Greens Caroline Lucas and Jean Lambert). This meeting "sets the tone for the guerrilla war to be waged against France in the European Parliament", said the MEP, who is the vice-president of the Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties. Mr Gaubert has announced that his will ask the EPP-ED group to "conduct an awareness campaign to counter this misinformation campaign being waged by British Muslims", and explain "that the French law is well grounded" in its objection to the wearing of religious signs, guaranteeing "the neutrality of the school, which is a place for learning and for education, not for exacerbating religious passions which have soaked Europe in blood over the previous centuries".