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EUROPE’S MUSLIMS: THEIR IMPACT ON EU FOREIGN POLICY AND TRANSATLANTIC RELATIONS – January 15, 2007
Just thirty years ago, Muslims living in the member states of the European Union were not a real political force. With few educated leaders, and many without the full rights of citizens, European Muslims were barely noticed in the corridors of power. Today, most Muslims in France, Great Britain, the Netherlands and other countries with large Muslim populations in Western Europe, not only have full citizenship rights, but sufficient organization and sophistication to actively take part in political debate. Domestic politicians might continue to ignore their voices, as Tony Blair’s government did when it joined the military intervention in Iraq. But European leaders now need to be aware that hundreds of thousands of Muslims may protest in the streets, as in London in 2003. European Muslims are getting better organized, and are forming a cohesive interest group capable of entering into strategic alliances with other political groups. European Muslims are also growing in numbers, exerting significant influence on Western European policy in the Middle East, and on transatlantic relations. Currently the European Muslim community participates in policy making indirectly, by joining and shaping the general debate on social and political issues in the countries they live in. Muslim organizations successfully lobby for their interests with the national authorities. In the future their lobbying skills will improve, and the growing number of Muslims in Europe will lend demographic weight to these efforts. What will be the effect of Muslim public assertiveness and lobbying on EU foreign policy and transatlantic relations? These are some of the questions this essay will try to answer. But first, let us briefly look at who the current European Muslims are.
MUSLIM CITIZENS OF EUROPE
There are some 15 million Muslims living in Western Europe, making up one of the most diverse religious minorities on the continent. For example, the nearly one million Muslims in the Netherlands include people from, or descended from immigrants from, the Middle East (Turkey), North Africa (Morocco), South America (Surinam) and South East Asia (Indonesia). Similar internal diversity exists in the countries with the most populous Muslim minorities: France (5 million), Germany (3.5 million) and Great Britain (1.8 million). Each of the aforementioned geographical areas has a different history of contact with Islam, and its inhabitants practice Islam in different ways. The largest Muslim groups in each country, with their particular ways of following Islam, determine, to a certain extent, the character of the whole Muslim population. In France, Islam has a visibly North African character, shaped by the long anti-colonial struggle in Algeria. In Germany, Islam has a Middle Eastern flavor, influenced by the secular policies of Kemal Ataturk. While in Great Britain it has a South Asian character significantly influenced by Sufism. The different forms of Islam brought to European soil from around the globe have undergone rapid changes, as acculturation and integration have created a new, European Islam, and distinctly European ways of practicing this religion.
The second largest religion in Europe is also characterized by its rapid growth, mainly due to the high fertility rate among Muslim families. According to demographic projections, the exceptionally young Muslim population, which in Europe presently approaches 24 million (including Albania, Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina, where Muslims are the majority), will grow significantly in the coming decades. If these projections are true, by 2015 Europe’s Muslim population will have doubled; while by 2050 it will have jumped from 5% of the continent’s population today to 20%. Even now we meet Muslims not only in pubs, restaurants and cafes, but in the health care industry, the media, schools, entertainment and other branches of the economy. In almost every major hospital in Western Europe there are at least several Muslim doctors and many Muslim nurses. Muslim scholars lecture at prestigious European universities, and Muslim journalists prepare materials for the BBC, France Télévisions or Belgium’s RTBF and elsewhere. Muslim soccer players amaze European soccer fans, while Muslim politicians represent their minority’s interests before local authorities and in national parliaments. In contrast to the U.S., where only this year has a Muslim congressman being sworn in with a Koran, this has been happening in Europe for years. There are six Muslim members in the British Parliament, while nearly 300 Muslim serve on local councils. In civil rights and their improving political skills, lies the power of the Muslim minority in Europe. In contrast to the majority of Muslim believers in the world, European Muslims possess a political voice which can make itself heard in elections.
EUROPEAN MUSLIM OPINION
How Muslims in Western European countries vote depends on their opinions at the moment. Despite huge national, ethnic and religious diversity, one thing, besides the Five Pillars of Islam, unites the majority of Muslims around the globe: their support for Palestinians and Palestine. In their uncritical backing of the Palestinians they unquestionably exceed other Europeans. In the PEW 2006 Report on Muslims in Europe, Muslims have a more favorable perception of the electoral victory of Hamas, and more often support Palestine in the Middle East conflict (Pew Global Attitudes Project – The Great Divide: How Westerners and Muslims View Each Other). Muslims are also united by a critical view of the United States, and Americans generally. They view the U.S. and Americans far more unfavorably than other Europeans. The biggest divide was seen in the Great Britain, where 69% of non-Muslims supported the U.S., while only 39% of Muslims did so as well. A survey conducted by the PEW Research Center showed that among European Muslims the war against terror has been extremely unpopular, while the least discontented were Muslims in Germany. Iran, which generally does not enjoy much popularity among Europeans and Americans, received more positive opinions from British and Spanish Muslims. French and German Muslims were more divided on this issue.
The strong feelings of the European Muslims toward the Palestinians unfortunately do not only reveal itself in ideological debate, but manifests in hostility and even violence toward Israelis and Jews. In the annual 2006 report on anti-Semitism in the EU by the European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC 2006), the profile of the most common perpetrators of anti-Semitic crimes has changed in recent years. In the past, Jews or their property were mainly attacked by supporters of radical right-wing parties. Today the victims of anti-Semitic attacks usually identify young Muslims or people of North African origin as the offenders. Moreover, the EUMC 2006 Report confirms a direct correlation between events in the Middle East and the number of anti-Semitic crimes committed in Europe. For example, an increase in anti-Semitic crimes occurred in April 2002, when the Israeli army occupied Palestinian cities. A report by the European Jewish Congress in November 2006 shows that there was a similar increase in anti-Semitic incidents in EU member states during the Israeli military offensive in Lebanon in July and August of 2006.
THE POLITICIZATION OF ISLAM AND MUSLIM LOBBYING
Although the Muslim educated elite and civil society are still very weak, the global politicization of Islam and, paradoxically, terrorist attacks conducted in the name of Allah, have given Muslims in Europe new strength and importance. Muslim partners and experts are in growing demand. This is helping moderate Muslim leaders find a new voice and a new confidence. For example the magazine European Voice in late November, 2006 nominated the Swiss-Muslim intellectual and preacher, Tarik Ramadan, as Citizen of the Year. The same person is in the U.S. being accused of supporting terrorism and treated as persona non grata. As a result of the politicization of Islam, EU governments want to maintain good relations with the Muslim communities. This is true even in countries such as Spain and Italy, with relatively young Muslim populations consisting of first generation immigrants.
As more EU countries assign priority status to Muslim minority matters, Muslim leaders in those countries have growing influence on domestic and foreign policy. They may not be able to directly alter policy, as has been shown by Liat Radcliff, who studied the unsuccessful efforts of the Muslim Council of Britain in trying to change the foreign policies of Tony Blair government. But Muslims have been gaining more and more direct influence by actively shaping major public political debates in their countries. One eventual result of this influence may be a harshening of European attitudes toward Israel. A sign of this trend came in November 2006, when, after an incident with Israeli planes, the French general and commander-in-chief of UNIFIL forces announced that soldiers under his command would attack planes violating Lebanese air space. If the U.S. continues its present policy in the Middle East there may also be negative effects on transatlantic relations. Recently Gordon Brown, who will most probably soon take the helm of the British government, stated that he does not intend to increase the number of British troops in Iraq. Nor will Brown support the U.S. in military operations against Iran, preferring instead an “ideological fight” against terrorism (Telegraph – January 8, 2007).
To summarize, the Middle Eastern policy of the largest EU member states is for now only slightly influenced by the presence of considerable Muslim minorities. But it is a factor which should not be forgotten or underestimated. In the future, the importance of the European Muslims will only increase.
Konrad Pedziwiatr
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The author is a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Sociology, Centrum voor Cultuursociologie, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. He was a Marie Curie Research Fellow at the University of Bradford (2003). He is also the author of the book "From Islam of Immigrants to Islam of Citizens: Muslims in the Countries of Western Europe" (2005).
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