Adek Berry/AFP via Getty Images Austria seeking to ban headscarfs in public institutions The proposal is part of an updated integration law.

Sebastian Kurz, Austria's foreign minister, on Friday said he was drafting a law to ban public servants, including teachers, from wearing Islamic headscarfs while working, local media report.

Describing Austria as "religion-friendly but also a secular state," a spokesman for Kurz said Christian crosses would still be allowed in classrooms because of their "culture" in the country.

The proposal is part of an updated integration law which would also include a ban on full body veils as well as certain restrictions on distributing the Koran by Salafist Muslims, according to the spokesperson.

The draft law will need approval from parliament.

Similar debates have been taking place in other EU member countries. France has banned the full body veil, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel last month called for a ban on full body coverings "wherever legally possible."