French Court:  Mayors Cannot Ban Burkinis; Goulet:  Burkini Row Reflects Identity Crisis.
NEWTON: France's top administrative court has overturned the country's controversial burkini ban. More than 30 French towns had banned the full length swim suit over what they came is respect for women's rights. Today's court ruling ends this yet it's unclear how the country's mayors will respond. A French senator Nathalie Goulet says the debate has been, in her words, hysterical. Earlier I asked her what she meant by that.</s>NATHALIE GOULET, FRENCH SENATOR: It seems like our society including the politicians are like a runaway car. I mean something is falling apart in our society. And we lost a compass. Nobody can have a reasonable discourse of speech about Islam. And it's really out of control. That's why I use this word.</s>NEWTON: And when you say it's out of control, what bothers you about the discourse in France right now, the way everybody is talking about this and the way it's seized the country?</s>GOULET: It's a kind of, let's say, misunderstanding or divorce between the French society and the Muslims. It's also linked to the attack on Nice and the murder of this priest and the Bataclan, and all this full misunderstanding. You know France is not recognizing any communitarianism. And then we under a kind of military secularism and it's difficult for the Muslims to express themselves, they feel a lot of discrimination. There is a real misunderstanding. And this misunderstanding was so heavy this summer with this burkini story. Hopefully the supreme court decided firmly this afternoon.</s>NEWTON: You said though quite clearly you think the fabric of French society is falling apart. What do you mean by that?</s>GOULET: I think this kind of event doesn't help social cohesion. There is no leader in the political arena who is able to raise their voice and just say, game over, the Muslim have their place in French society, secularism is for the state. Secularism is not for swim baths. Secularism is not for the people. Secularism is for the state. And I think that now there is a big misunderstanding and everybody is mixing everything, such as Saudi Arabia, Wahhabis, Salafism, and all of this is linked with the poor burkini, and that's what you've witnessed for the past two or three weeks.</s>NEWTON: How much do you think it's hurting France's reputation?</s>GOULET: Very badly. Very badly, because, you know, it's difficult to understand, especially, you know, we have this unique secularism. And it's very difficult to understand how it works. And even there is nobody to raise the rules, so it's not understandable for the people abroad. And especially in America, because you are dealing with communitarianism, we don't. I think the image of France is badly hurt.</s>NEWTON: It has to be said despite that some polls show as many as 60 percent of the French actually support the burkini ban. I'm sure it's not the last we'll hear on this issue. That's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for this Friday evening. I'm Paula Newton in New York. The news continues here on CNN. END