Andreas Scheuer, German transport minister | Lukas Barth-Tuttas/EPA | Lukas Barth/EFE via EPA Bavarian official calls for full-face veil ban in Germany ‘The burqa does not belong in Germany,’ says Andreas Scheuer.

A ban on full-face veils is "possible and necessary" in Germany, the general secretary of the Christian Social Union, Angela Merkel's conservative allies in government, said Monday.

Speaking to Passauer Neue Presse, Andreas Scheuer called on Germany to follow the example set by Austria, which implemented a so-called burqa ban on October 1.

Germany's current partial ban on facial veils "needs to be expanded," the CSU official told the paper, adding that the same was true for other European countries.

"We won't give up our identity, we are ready to fight for it,” Scheuer said. "The burqa does not belong in Germany.”

In April, the German parliament supported a draft law that prohibits women from wearing a full-face veil while working in the civil service, judiciary and military. German Chancellor Angela Merkel backed a ban “wherever legally possible” in December 2016.

Stephan Harbarth, the deputy chairman of the CDU/CSU alliance, said that although there is no question full-face veils "contradict our values," he feared a "further ban would not be compatible with German law."

“With the partial ban, which we decided in the spring, we went to the limit of what is possible under constitutional law," Harbarth said.

Austria is the latest European country to enforce a full-face veil ban, citing security concerns and easier integration, among other reasons. The ban allows women to wear headscarves but requires an exposed face. Women who fail to comply could face fines of €150.

France, Belgium, Latvia and Bulgaria also prohibit full-face veils in public while the Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain and Italy implemented partial bans in certain situations or regions of the country.