Muslims in European Politics - Euro- Islam: News and Analysis on Islam in Europe and North America. I. Introduction. There is no doubt about the fact that Islam today is Europe. However, no exact data are available of how many Muslims live in the European Union in total.
The official statistics office of the EU, Eurostat, does not gather any data on religious affiliation, because the legislation some of member states do not permit to gather data on religion for statistics. The same holds true for ethnic background and therefore the estimated numbers are a mixture of available data. Numbers vary from 1. NGOs and estimations, published within the past five years. One source is the German Central Institute Islam Archive in Soest that presents numbers for all European countries. The Institute claims the exact number of 1. Muslims to live in the member states of the European Union in late 2.
With the 2. 7 EU member states having a total population of 4. Regardless of how diverse their background may be in terms of ethnicity, culture, age, citizenship, migration experience and social situation, one would expect European Muslims to play a large role in European politics. Despite the differences, Muslims in Europe are a significant population that have become the focus of many political debates especially in the past decade, ranging from headscarf verdicts, terrorism, Turkey. Muslims slowly become members of political parties and of local, national and the European parliament while also engaging in Islamic associations. To what extent Muslims are integrated in mainstream politics and whether this is a representative share of the population will be discussed in the following.
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There remains, however, an important methodological issue. When looking at the political representation of Muslims in the EU, the most obvious term yet needs to be defined: Muslim. What appears unambiguous at first reveals complex questions of self- definition and identities ascribed by others. Certainly, the first definition that comes to mind is that of family background .
This is also reflected in the theological understanding of Islam, which claims that a Muslim father passes the religion on to the offspring. But this definition applies only to clear- cut cases and already fails to describe a person born to a Muslim father and a Jewish mother, or other mixed families. Moreover, this definition simplifies multifaceted issues, because it homogenizes many diverse people who are religious, non- religious, believing but not practising, fundamentalist, traditional, agnostic or even atheist and who have a Muslim family background by defining them as Muslims. In other words, the term is used in an essentialist way, which takes one part of someone.
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Many secular Muslims reject this view, and so do those who are religious and yet think of themselves in many other terms as well. Therefore, one may take another definition as a basis, that of self- attribution. Following this understanding, those people are regarded as Muslims who describe themselves as such. This is simple and logic, and while it may still comprise many different degrees of religiosity, it clears the term of its ethnic dimension and allows for a self- determined identity. It does not ask for bloodlines and neither confuses culture for religion. But now this definition poses a methodological problem to this report. First of all, the population in question shrinks (despite the now included converts), and it is impossible to measure its size, as one can by no means ask 1.
Then, even when only looking at public figures such as politicians, some of them make a statement on their religious affiliation, but most of them do not. For some of them, their being Muslim does not play a significant role in their political life and others even distance themselves from Islam altogether. This renders an ascription difficult, as this report does not seek to impose an identity on someone who clearly dissociates him- or herself from it. The question therefore should be what it is that the report wants to focus on.
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If it deals with integration of and discrimination against those who have a migration background from a Muslim country, then the first definition is appropriate. If it wants to measure Islamic- religious influence on European politics, the second one should be applied. But as usual, it is a bit of both and the solution lies in between: In the sense of a general overview, the report will use numbers for . Political Representation. Representation of Muslims in European Politics. Elections. Most recent elections for the legislative of the European Parliament took place on June 4- 7, 2. At least 1. 1 MEPs of have a Muslim family background.
They represent only six countries altogether, while the remaining 2. Muslim MEPs. Two of the 1. MEPs were born outside Europe (Algeria), while the rest were born in the European countries they represent. Despite the Muslim heritage, their religious affiliation is likely to be very diverse; some identify as Muslim whereas others are openly secular. The majority does not make a statement on their religion, neither do all MEPs in general. Therefore it is methodologically impossible to give exact evidence of the number of MEPs. Country. Name. MEP since.
Party. Background. France. Rachita Datia. EPPborn in France, Moroccan- Algerian parents. Karima Delli. 20. Greensborn in France, Algerian parents. Toika Sa. In the 2. United Kingdom, two for Germany, two for France and one respectively for the Netherlands and Belgium.
After Bulgaria joined the EU in 2. MEPs to the parliament, among them four from the ethnic Turkish party MRF.
The European Parliament generally also misrepresents demographics in terms of ethnicity . Islamic issues did not take precedence over other topics in their political work, rather they were active in intercultural and ethnic minority issues. British MEPs of Muslim background who also previously served were Sajjad Karim, who changed from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) to EPP- ED in 2. Syed Kamall for the European People’s Party and European Democrats (EPP- ED). Karim is of Pakistani background and Kamall of South Asian, probably also Pakistani background, and both of them were born in the UK. They do not refer to their religious affiliation.
Karim’s main fields of commitment are human rights, social affairs and lately the situation in Gaza; Kamall focuses on globalisation issues and global poverty. The French MEPs of Muslim family background who have also previously served were Tokia Saifi (EPP- ED) and Kader Arif (PES). Saifi is born in France of Algerian background and does not announce her religious affiliation.
Her commitment is dedicated to cultural and spiritual dialogue between the three monotheist religions and an open- minded secularism, citizen’s rights and equal opportunities and to economic relations with the gulf states. His expertise is international trade and Euro- Mediterranean politics.
Emine Bozkurt appears to have been the only Dutch Muslim MEP that previously served, and was a delegate of the PES party. She was born in the Netherlands to Turkish parents and the first Dutch of ethnic minority background to be elected MEP. Bozkurt’s religion is not stated. Her fields of expertise are equality of gender, homosexuals, ethnic minorities, etc. He was born in Belgium to a Moroccan father and a Belgian mother and like his preceding colleagues he does not comment on his religion.
He dedicates his political work to foreign affairs and to transatlantic relations in particular. During this time, it appeared that there were few politicians of Muslim background in the European parliament. It is striking that none of them publicly declared his or her religious affiliation and consequently, their political activism either focused on ethnic minority and equality issues or on general topics that are neither related to Islam nor to ethnicity at all. Representation of Muslims in National Mainstream Politics.
There is slightly more political involvement of Muslims in national assemblies than there is in the European parliament. This is again superseded by involvement on the local or communal level, however the national level is the most visible arena. Muslim politicians are found in nearly all parties, with a tendency towards social democrats but then also conservative parties.
In those countries where there is a significant Green party, like Germany or Austria, this is the one that attracts most Muslim politicians, although they are unlikely to state their religious affiliation. This is almost only done in conservative parties, which often have a religious orientation themselves.
In Austria, no Muslim appears to be member of the parliament, the Nationalrat. In the past elections in September 2. Muslims but they were not successful. Mainly the Green party listed Muslim candidates but also the social democrat SP.
Religious affiliation was usually not stated. Muslim involvement in Austrian politics has been low for a long time. Ten years ago, it was not unusual that imams reflected in their Friday prayers about the question whether or not Muslims should participate in Austrian elections. This has now changed, and before the 2.
Austrian citizens. Austria. One issue that has yet to be resolved with the government is related to a law that allows hospitals and medical centres to take human organs from the recently deceased without the permission of their families, provided the deceased is not carrying documentation explicitly prohibiting this. This is a problem for the majority of Muslims. To counter this legislation, Muslims organized a campaign in collaboration with various political parties and authorities. The campaign also underscored the tolerance of Islam and its openness to other religions and cultures, and various political leaders hailed the honourable role of Muslims in Austrian life. In other efforts to promote integration and understanding, the Communist Party held an Iftar feast in Ramadan 2.